5 Important Bible Verses For Grandparents to Learn

Is there anyone more special than a grandparent to grandchildren?  What are some important Bible verses for grandparents?

Grandparents, A Godly Heritage

Second Timothy 2:4-5 “As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy.  I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.”

I have used this verse for mothers but it is equally of value to grandmothers because you can see that the roots of Timothy’s faith go back to his mother and his grandmother.  I can assume that Timothy’s mother learned her godly roots from her own mother Lois, Timothy’s grandmother.  As a grandfather myself, there are few things more joyful than spending time with my grandsons.  No, it is not just “sugaring them up and sending them home” but it is playing catch, going to the park, or watching a movie with them.  They do sleep good when we do send them home but they know that “paw paw” and “mam maw” love them and that we love God.  That heritage is passed along by grandparents and those roots run deep throughout their life.  That makes grandparents a rich, valuable resource for the future, just as it did Timothy.

Snow on the Roof, Fire in the Cabin

Psalm 92:14-15” They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.”

As we get older, we grandparents do get slower but there is nothing wrong with slow because steady but slow wins the race, so I have heard.  As we grandparents age, we must have patience with ourselves and the parents and grandchildren should be more patient with them and allow grandma and grandpa time to speak for grandparents hold so much wisdom with their years of experience that time has taught them.  You cannot teach experience and we can sit with them and learn so much.  Grandparents, we have so much to pass on to our grandchildren.  Grandparents may be old but let me show you that older is not any less than the best.  Our best pecan and black walnut trees are the older ones.  We have a one-hundred year-old pecan tree but we were told by someone from Georgia, where pecans are said to grow best, that ours were the sweetest they had ever tasted and the black walnuts from a one-hundred year-old tree are the best they had ever eaten.  These trees, just like grandparents, “are ever full of sap and green” because they are rooted in the Rock and that Rock is God in whom “there is no unrighteousness.”

God is with us Even to Old Age

Isaiah 46:4 “even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.”

God is said to be with us “even to [our] old age and He carries [us], bears [us] up” and saves us.  When God spoke through Isaiah that He would be with them “to gray hairs” what He was saying was that His love is not diminished by time and our value to Him is not lessened by age or the accumulation of years. What a tender, loving God that, unlike many of the children of their grandparents, will not abandon them in their old age nor will He ever forsake them (Heb 13:5).  What a great and precious promise by He Who is without age.  Indeed, “Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life” (Prov 16:31) and their “Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers” (Prov 17:6).

Moses’ Unabated Vigor and Vitality

Deuteronomy 34:7-8 “Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated.  And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.”

What does this say about the older generation? It says that just because someone is older does not mean that their usefulness is any less than that of a young man or woman, and in many ways, they are more useful.  Moses’ vision was not dimmed nor was his vigor abated and his strength was no less than perhaps the day he led Israel out of Egypt.  Grandparents have only a diminished capacity to do what they could do in their youth but as the years pile up, so does the wisdom from their many years of experience.  Most people I know have fond memories of their grandparents as they recount the many times of joyful occurrences that they experienced.   These are treasures of the mind that their grandchildren take with them.  These experiences mold them and shape them in meaningful ways that cannot be fully comprehended.  The usefulness of grandparents is in their value of their life’s spent learning from their mistakes and building upon them.

A Spiritual Inheritance

Proverbs 13:22 “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.”

I don’t believe this is only talking about wealth but there is a spiritual inheritance that lasts well beyond any money that would remain.  Money comes and money goes but a lasting influence remains.  The most precious things we can store up for ourselves are not to be deposited here on earth but in heaven (Matt 6:19-21) because money will perish but those who trust in the Lord shall abide forever.  The most precious thing that grandparents can leave their grandchildren is that the most precious thing of all is the salvation of the Lord displayed on the cross at Calvary.  Love remains when all else fails.  When prophecy’s fail, when gifts cease, when tongues are stilled by death, the love that remains with the grandchildren lives on in their lives because love never fails, love never gives up and love never dies. The sinner stores up what will go to others (Prov 13:22b) but the righteous leave behind what they will take up again…hopefully that is that they will see their own grandchildren in heaven someday.  What is a more precious promise and gift than sharing the good news of the gospel?

Conclusion

When a grandparent dies, they are really not there….they are with the Lord if they have been born again.  The ground at the cemetery is not burial ground but resurrection ground.  They had to go to the undertaker but they were received by the Uppertaker.   Job asked, “If a man dies, shall he live again?  All the days of my service I would wait, till my change should come. You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands” (Job 14:14-15). A person who is saved and one who is lost will live again.  Daniel wrote of that time to come when “your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.  And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.  And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” (Dan 12:1b-3) or as Paul writes “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,  when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed” (2 Thess 1:7-10).  I don’t believe in fate.  Which place you go to is up to you (John 1:1-18; Rom 10:9-13).

Another Reading on Patheos to Check Out: What Did Jesus Really Look Like: A Look at the Bible Facts

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book  Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon