Fan Into Flame: The gift of Firsthand Faith

Recently I’ve heard a number of sweet stories of kids experiencing God in their lives. I love that whenever kids have these experiences, parents seek me out to tell me about them. But I love even more that in each of the stories, the kids were having their own personal revelation of God and His love for them in ways that were unique to their story and to their life.

Because that is firsthand faith.

I heard that particular description yesterday during a chapel service at Asbury Theological Seminary. The speaker was the dean of chapel, Jessica LaGrone, and she shared about the relationship between Paul and Timothy through the lens of a pilot light.

She shared that growing up there was, in the basement of her grandparents beach house (more aptly described fishing shack, according to her) an old gas water heater. In order to get hot water in the house, one needed to travel to the dark, dingy corner where it was located and turn on the gas. But the gas always instantly turned to a huge flame with a “whoosh” because the pilot light was burning deep inside the seemingly dormant device.

She compared this to Paul’s conversation with Timothy where he tells him to “fan into flame” the pilot light that had been lit in him by his mother Lois and his grandmother Eunice. In describing this, she stated,

“Faith can be passed on to us, but it cannot be secondhand. We need firsthand faith.”

It’s the difference between indoctrination and influence.  The nuance between being dogmatic and being one who disciples, between forceful acceptance and faithful formation.

Generational discipleship, the passing on of our faith from one generation to another, is essential to who we are as the body of Christ. Just as Timothy’s mother and grandmother, and indeed, Paul and other believers, invested in him as a young man, so must we “light the pilot lights” of those who come behind us; our children, our friends’ children, young people in our faith community, our neighborhood, our world.

But we must also encourage them to “fan into flame” that light that has been lit within them. We don’t want to create secondhand Christians, that live only off of our experiences and convictions. We want them to burst into bright flame because of their own revelation of who God is and what He has for them.

And we don’t want that to be a once and done thing. We want them to grow and mature and experience the love and grace of God over and over again in their lives.

We want to inspire firsthand faith. 

Which means…

Our kids may not look like us. They may not act like us. They may not like the same worship styles that we do. They may not end up attending the same church as us or even remaining in the same tradition as we do. We may even disagree about some things as they grow up and mature and own their faith.

But that pilot light, no matter how different or dormant their faith looks, can only be lit if we invest in discipleship, in the passing on of our faith.  If there is nothing to fan into flame, it is much less likely that they will find that firsthand faith.

It is for us, church, adult believers, grandparents and parents, aunts and uncles, friends who are like family and friends who choose to be invested, the Pauls of this age; it is for us to light that flame. To demonstrate what firsthand faith looks like be living a life worthy of the calling we’ve received and fanning into flame the gift we have been given from those who came before us.

If the next generation is to have firsthand faith, we must light the pilot light. 

I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline (2 Tim. 1:5-7)

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