2 Timothy 1:1-5: in context

Paul opens his last letter to Timothy, his beloved child in the faith, with thanksgiving. He thanks God constantly, remembering Timothy in his prayers night and day, longing to see him and recalling his tears. And he names the source of Timothy's faith: I am reminded of your sincere faith, which lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now, I am persuaded, lives in you also. Timothy's faith had come to him through the women of his family, handed from grandmother to mother to son.

The lovely thing Paul names is the passing of faith through three generations: Lois, Eunice, Timothy, grandmother to mother to son. Timothy's sincere faith did not arise from nowhere; it had lived first in his grandmother, then in his mother, and now in him, handed down through a family that loved God. There is a great blessing in that, the inheritance of a living faith passed through the generations, a child raised by a mother and grandmother whose own faith was real, absorbing from them the faith that became his own. Not everyone receives such an inheritance, and those who do have reason for deep gratitude, for a godly heritage is a gift, the faith of those who went before becoming the soil in which our own faith grows. And there is a responsibility in it too. Timothy's faith was inherited, but it had to become genuinely his own; a handed-down faith is a gift, but it must be personally received and lived, not merely a family tradition kept out of habit. Paul is persuaded the faith that lived in Lois and Eunice now truly lives in Timothy, not as an heirloom but as his own living faith. And the pattern is meant to continue; the faith received from Lois and Eunice, made Timothy's own, was his to hand on in turn. There is both gratitude and calling in this. If we have inherited a living faith from those who went before us, we have reason for deep thanks; and we are called to make it truly our own and to hand it on to those who come after, so that the faith of Lois and Eunice runs on through the generations.

If I have inherited a living faith from parents or grandparents who loved God, do I give thanks for that heritage, and have I made it genuinely my own rather than keeping it merely as a family tradition, and am I handing it on to those who come after me, as Lois and Eunice handed it to Timothy?