Built to Nurture: The Quiet Power of a Faithful Influence

by Bart Denny

Mother’s Day can land differently for each of us.

For some, it brings warmth and gratitude. For others, it brings grief, regret, longing, or pain. So before we say anything else, we should say this clearly: we don’t need to pretend every family looks like a greeting card. We don’t need to pretend every home has always felt safe, healthy, or whole.

That’s not real life.

And it’s not the Bible either.

The Bible gives us families with beauty and brokenness, promise and pain. And right there, in the middle of real life, God works. God doesn’t build faith in perfect homes. He builds faith by grace.

He builds faith through ordinary people who show up, pray, teach, forgive, encourage, correct, comfort, and keep loving.

Most of us can look back and see that our faith didn’t appear all at once. For many of us, faith came slowly. Maybe it came through a mother or grandmother. Maybe through a teacher, mentor, neighbor, pastor, or someone in the church who cared enough to notice us.

They may not have had a title. They may not have stood on a platform. But they lived their faith in front of us.

At the time, it may not have felt dramatic. It may have felt ordinary.

A ride to church. A bedtime prayer. A Bible on the nightstand. A conversation in the car. A quiet word after a hard day.

But over time, God used it.

Years later, we realize, “That shaped me more than I knew at the time.”

That’s especially true when we think about faithful mothers, grandmothers, and women who’ve nurtured faith in others. Much of that work happens quietly. Nobody claps or takes a picture. Sometimes the person being loved doesn’t yet appreciate what’s being done.

But God sees it.

And God uses it. So, if there's a single takeaway from this blog post, it's this:

Never underestimate the quiet power of a faithful influence.

 

Faith That Lived Before Us

We see this in the life of a young man named Timothy.

Timothy became one of Paul’s trusted ministry partners. He served the church. He carried the gospel. He helped lead God’s people.

But when Paul looked at Timothy’s life, he didn’t only see the preacher Timothy became. He saw the faith that shaped him before public ministry ever began.

He saw a grandmother named Lois. He saw a mother named Eunice. He saw sincere faith that lived in them before it lived in Timothy.

Paul writes:

“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.”

2 Timothy 1:5, NIV

That word sincere matters.

Paul isn’t talking about polished faith or perfect faith. He’s talking about genuine faith. Faith without pretense. Faith that’s real.

When Paul looks at Timothy, he sees more than ability. He sees a young man whose faith is alive. But then Paul traces that faith backward. That sincere faith “first lived” in Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice.

That phrase is beautiful.

Faith lived in them.

It didn’t merely sit on the shelf. It didn’t appear only when people were watching. It made its home in them. And now Paul says, “I am persuaded, now it lives in you also.”

In other words, Timothy’s faith had roots.

Before Timothy ever became one of Paul’s ministry partners, before he shepherded God’s people in Ephesus, God was already working through the quiet influence of a faithful grandmother and a faithful mother.

Lois and Eunice don’t get many words in the Bible. They didn’t write an epistle. They didn’t lead a missionary journey. But their faith helped shape a man who would serve the church for the rest of his life.

Never underestimate the quiet power of a faithful influence.

Faith Is Personal, But It’s Often Nurtured Through Relationships

We do need to be careful here. Paul isn’t saying faith is automatic.

Timothy didn’t become a believer simply because his grandmother believed or because his mother believed. God has no grandchildren. Each person must respond to Christ personally.

But Paul is showing us something the whole Bible teaches: God often uses faithful relationships to prepare the soil where faith can take root.

Faith is personal, but God often nurtures it through relationships.

Later in this same letter, Paul tells Timothy:

“Continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it.”

2 Timothy 3:14, NIV

Then Paul adds:

“And how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

2 Timothy 3:15, NIV

Timothy knew the Scriptures from childhood. But he didn’t only know what he’d learned. Paul says he knew from whom he’d learned it.

That matters.

Truth isn’t weakened when it comes through relationship. In God’s design, truth is often strengthened through relationship.

Children and young people don’t only ask, “Is this true?” They also ask, “Does this truth live in you?”

They watch how we speak. They watch how we respond under pressure. They watch whether prayer is something we only talk about or something we actually practice. They watch whether forgiveness is only something we say we believe in or whether it’s a grace we actually extend.

That doesn’t mean we have to be perfect. No mother, father, grandparent, mentor, teacher, or pastor is perfect.

But sincere faith doesn’t mean flawless faith.

It means real faith.

And real faith, lived consistently over time, can leave a lasting mark.

Influence Often Forms a Path Over Time

Think about the way a path forms through grass.

Nobody creates that kind of path in one dramatic moment. One person walks across the same stretch of ground. Then another. Then another. Day after day. Step after step.

At first, the grass just bends. Then it wears down. Eventually, a clear path appears.

That’s how influence often works.

Not one dramatic speech. Not one perfect lesson. Just faithful steps over time.

A prayer. A conversation. An apology. A Bible opened. A child brought to church. A promise kept.

And over time, a path of faith begins to form.

That’s the quiet power of a faithful influence.

Many mothers know that kind of work. So do grandmothers, fathers, teachers, mentors, and faithful people in the church who keep investing even when they wonder whether it’s making any difference.

You may not see the path forming today.

But God sees every step.

Nurturing Faith in Everyday Life

Faithful influence isn’t meant to stop with us. Once we recognize the power of faithful influence, we should ask, “Who am I influencing now?”

That question brings us to Deuteronomy 6, where God shows us that faith formation isn’t confined to a church building, a classroom, or a Sunday morning service.

It happens in the everyday rhythms of life.

At the table. In the car. Before bed. After a hard day. In the middle of a question we weren’t prepared to answer.

Moses tells Israel:

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

Deuteronomy 6:4–5, NIV

Before God’s Word gets impressed on our children, it has to take hold of our hearts.

Children can usually tell the difference between faith that’s merely enforced and faith that’s genuinely held. They can tell when church is only something we attend, and they can tell when faith is actually shaping how we live.

They can tell when prayer, Scripture, and forgiveness are just words we use, and they can tell when those things are real at the kitchen table.

That’s why Moses begins with love for God.

You can’t pass on what you don’t possess.

You can require attendance. You can enforce rules. You can build habits. Some of that matters. But the deepest kind of nurture doesn’t begin with control.

It begins with love.

Faith Formation Starts With Personal Formation

Moses continues:

“These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.”

Deuteronomy 6:6, NIV

Not just in your notebook. Not just on a plaque on the wall. On your hearts.

Faith formation starts with personal formation.

Before we talk about nurturing faith in someone else, we have to ask whether God’s Word is shaping us.

How do I speak when I’m frustrated? How do I apologize when I’m wrong? How do I respond when I’m disappointed? What do I celebrate, prioritize, excuse, and pursue?

That’s not meant to shame us.

It’s meant to wake us up.

God doesn’t call parents, grandparents, mentors, teachers, or spiritual mothers and fathers to be perfect examples. But He does call us to be sincere ones.

The faith that lived in Lois and Eunice was sincere. And the faith Moses describes in Deuteronomy 6 is faith that lives in the heart before it gets taught in the home.

Faith Doesn’t Get Nurtured by Accident

Then Moses says:

“Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

Deuteronomy 6:7, NIV

That word impress matters.

Moses doesn’t say, “Mention this every now and then.” He doesn’t say, “Hope they pick it up eventually.” He says, “Impress them.”

That means diligent, repeated, intentional instruction.

Not harsh. Not joyless. Not turning every conversation into a lecture. But intentional.

Faith doesn’t get nurtured by accident. It grows through repeated, faithful, loving attention.

And then Moses shows us what that looks like: “Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

That’s everyday life.

Talk about the Lord at the table. In the car. At bedtime. When someone is afraid. When someone has failed. When you’re celebrating. When you’re grieving.

In other words, don’t treat faith like it belongs in a separate compartment of life. Bring it into the ordinary rhythms of the home.

Faith formation isn’t limited to a formal lesson. It happens when the truth of God enters the daily life of God’s people.

That doesn’t mean every family devotion has to be polished. It doesn’t mean every spiritual conversation has to feel profound. And it definitely doesn’t mean every parent has to become a seminary professor at the dinner table.

Most kids don’t need a lecture on systematic theology while they’re trying to eat their cereal.

But they do need to know that God is real, His Word matters, prayer isn’t a last resort, sin is serious, grace is greater, forgiveness is possible, and Jesus can be trusted.

And they learn that over time through what we say, celebrate, correct, confess, and model.

Learning the Recipe by Standing Nearby

A lot of families have recipes that get passed down from one generation to the next.

Maybe it’s pie crust, pot roast, biscuits and gravy, or a favorite Christmas dish. Sometimes the recipe is written down on an old index card, stained from years of use.

But sometimes the recipe says things like, “Add enough flour until it looks right,” or “Cook it until it’s done.”

Which isn’t as helpful as they thought it was.

Because some things are hard to learn from the card alone. You need to stand next to someone who knows how to make it. You need to watch, listen, try, and hear them say, “No, not yet,” or “Now you’ve got it.”

You learn by being with the person.

That’s how faith is often nurtured too.

We need the written Word of God. We don’t make up the recipe. God has spoken. His Word is true.

But Deuteronomy 6 reminds us that God’s Word is often learned in relationship, in the daily life of people who love Him.

Children learn faith as they stand near someone who prays, forgives, opens the Bible when life gets hard, and keeps showing up when obedience is costly.

That’s the kind of nurture Moses called Israel to practice. That’s the kind of nurture Lois and Eunice gave Timothy. And that’s the kind of nurture God still uses today.

Grace for Broken Stories

As soon as we talk about family, home, nurture, and influence, we also have to be honest.

Some of us feel the weight of what didn’t happen. The prayers we didn’t pray. The conversations we didn’t have. The nurture we didn’t receive. The home that wasn’t safe. The words that still hurt.

So we need one more word of grace.

The same God who calls us to nurture faith in everyday life is also the God who redeems broken places.

Scripture never pretends family is simple.

From the opening chapters of Genesis, family life is marked by beauty and brokenness. Sin brings blame, shame, hiding, and pain into the first home. Cain and Abel, the first brothers, become a story of violence. Abraham’s family carries promise, but also fear and conflict. Jacob’s family is marked by rivalry and deception. Joseph is betrayed by his own brothers. David’s household carries deep wounds.

Even Jesus’ earthly family had moments of misunderstanding.

So when the Bible talks about family, it doesn’t speak from a fantasy world. It speaks into the world we actually live in.

And that matters on Mother’s Day, because a sermon about family can stir gratitude, grief, encouragement, regret, and pain all at once.

Psalm 68 says:

“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families…”

Psalm 68:5–6, NIV

That’s not a small statement.

God doesn’t stand far away from broken family stories. He moves toward them.

In the ancient world, the fatherless and widows were among the most vulnerable people in society. The lonely and disconnected could easily be overlooked. But Psalm 68 says God sees them.

His holiness doesn’t make Him distant from their pain. It makes Him faithful in the middle of it.

That’s why we can honor faithful mothers and grandmothers without pretending every mother was faithful. We can celebrate nurture without ignoring neglect. We can call people to intentional faith formation without crushing those who carry regret.

Because the foundation isn’t family perfection.

It’s grace.

And grace means God can work where people have failed.

That doesn’t excuse sin. It doesn’t minimize wounds. But it does mean brokenness doesn’t get the final word.

Adopted by Grace

Paul writes in Romans 8:

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’”

Romans 8:15, NIV

Through Christ, God doesn’t merely repair our past from a distance. He brings us into His family.

He gives us the Spirit of adoption. He teaches us to cry, “Abba, Father.”

So your family story matters, but it doesn’t have the final word over who you are in Christ.

Your deepest identity is found in the Father who receives you, the Son who redeems you, and the Spirit who assures you that you belong to God.

That’s good news if you had a faithful mother.

It’s also good news if you didn’t.

It’s good news if you tried to nurture faith and still have a child who has wandered.

And it’s good news if you carry regret.

God’s grace isn’t blocked by what you didn’t receive, and it’s not exhausted by what you wish you’d done differently.

The Church as a Household of Grace

God still places the lonely into families.

Sometimes He does that through biological, adoptive, or foster families. But sometimes it looks different. Sometimes He does it through grandparents, mentors, teachers, neighbors, friends, and the church — the household of God.

Jesus Himself widened our understanding of family around obedience to God.

“Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Mark 3:34–35, NIV

Jesus wasn’t dishonoring His earthly family. He was showing that the kingdom creates a new family.

So, yes, healthy faith is built at home. But by grace, God can also build a home for people who never really had one.

He can take imperfect people and make them instruments of grace.

That’s why we can trust Him with broken stories.

Ruth, Naomi, and the God Who Redeems

One of the most beautiful examples of this in Scripture is Ruth.

Ruth’s family story was marked by grief. Her husband died. Her father-in-law died. Her brother-in-law died. Naomi was so wounded by loss that she said:

“Don’t call me Naomi… Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.”

Ruth 1:20, NIV

That’s not a greeting-card family story.

That’s grief. That’s emptiness.

But Ruth stayed.

She told Naomi:

“Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”

Ruth 1:16, NIV

And through that faithful presence, God began to redeem what looked hopeless.

Ruth became part of the people of God. Boaz became a redeemer. Naomi held a child in her arms. And that child became part of the family line that led to King David, and ultimately to Jesus Christ.

Ruth reminds us that God’s redeeming work doesn’t always arrive with thunder and lightning.

Sometimes it comes through someone who stays. Someone who loves. Someone who says, “You’re not walking this road alone.”

Never underestimate the quiet power of a faithful influence.

What Kind of People Will We Be?

If God builds faith through quiet, faithful influence, then we need to become the kind of church where that influence is welcomed, strengthened, and multiplied.

That means children aren’t distractions. They’re people God is forming.

Teenagers aren’t problems to manage. They’re disciples to encourage.

Parents don’t have to carry the weight alone.

Grandparents still have prayers to pray and wisdom to share.

Single adults, widows, widowers, and those without children of their own aren’t on the sidelines of spiritual influence.

The family of God isn’t built around one life stage. It’s built around Jesus.

Healthy faith shouldn’t only move from pulpit to pew. It should move from life to life: through nursery rooms, Sunday school classes, conversations after service, meals, notes, prayers, encouragement, forgiveness, and steady presence.

In Christ, home is bigger than one address.

So let’s be that kind of home.

A people where sincere faith lives. A people who nurture faith in everyday life. A people who make room for grace in broken stories. A people who never underestimate the quiet power of a faithful influence.

Three Invitations

1. Look back with gratitude.

Who helped shape your faith?

Maybe it was your mother, grandmother, father, teacher, pastor, mentor, or friend. If they’re still living, today would be a good day to say, “Thank you.”

If they’re with the Lord, thank God for the grace He gave you through them.

And if your story is harder than that, look carefully for the faithful influences God placed along the way. Where you can see grace, thank God for it.

2. Step forward with intentionality.

Someone is being shaped by your life.

Maybe it’s your child, grandchild, student, neighbor, younger believer, or someone in your church who watches you more than you realize.

So don’t wait until you feel impressive. Don’t wait until you know everything. Don’t wait until your family is perfect.

Start with sincere faith.

Pray. Show up. Tell the truth. Apologize when you’re wrong. Speak of Jesus naturally. Love faithfully. Create ordinary moments where faith can take root.

Never underestimate the quiet power of a faithful influence.

3. Release what you can’t control.

You can nurture faith, but you can’t manufacture faith.

You can plant. You can water. But only God gives the growth.

Paul writes:

“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”

1 Corinthians 3:6–7, NIV

You’re responsible to be faithful. You’re not responsible to be the Savior.

So if you’re grieving a child who’s wandered from faith, keep praying, but don’t carry a weight only God can carry.

If you look back with regret, bring it to Christ. Confess what needs to be confessed. Receive His mercy. Walk forward in new obedience.

If your family story left wounds, don’t let that pain convince you God is finished writing your story.

The Faith You’ve Seen Can Become Your Own

If you’ve seen faith in others but have never personally trusted Christ, today’s the day to receive the faith you’ve seen.

God has no grandchildren.

Your mother’s faith can influence you. Your grandmother’s faith can bless you. A mentor’s faith can point you. But you must personally respond to Jesus.

The good news is that Jesus came for real people from real families with real sin and real wounds.

He died on the cross for us. He rose again. And through Him, we can be forgiven, adopted, restored, and made new.

So receive Him. Trust Him. Let His grace begin building in you what only He can build.

God often builds enduring faith through the quiet, faithful influence of those who nurture us in love.

A Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for the quiet ways You build faith. Thank You for the people who have loved us, prayed for us, taught us, encouraged us, and pointed us toward Jesus.

For every faithful mother, grandmother, mentor, teacher, friend, and spiritual influence You have used in our lives, we give You thanks.

Lord, we also bring You the tender places: the grief, regret, longing, wounds, and family stories that still feel complicated.

Thank You that You do not stand far away from broken places. You move toward them with grace. You are a Father to the fatherless. You place the lonely into new families. And through Jesus Christ, You bring us into Your own family.

Help us look back with gratitude where we can. Help us step forward with intentionality where You have placed us. Help us release what we cannot control into Your faithful hands.

Make us the kind of people who nurture faith in everyday life. Make our churches spiritual homes where children are formed, teenagers are encouraged, parents are strengthened, the lonely are welcomed, and broken stories find grace.

And for anyone who has seen faith in others but has never personally trusted Christ, draw them to Yourself. Help them receive the grace Jesus made possible through His death and resurrection.

Build in us what only You can build.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

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About the Author: Dr. Bart Denny serves as Lead Pastor of Pathway – A Wesleyan Church in Saranac, Michigan. This blog post is adapted from his Mother’s Day sermon, “Built to Nurture: The Quiet Power of a Faithful Influence,” delivered at Pathway on May 10, 2026. The entire worship service can be viewed here: Watch the service on YouTube.

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