I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. -2 Timothy 1:5

It occurred to me, as I was taking my son to a tour of his new middle school building, that he and I have something unexpectedly in common. The middle school I attended (25 years ago and 360 miles away as the crow flies) was right next to the smaller of two city swimming pools and down the street from my church. The middle school he will attend, starting Monday, is down the street from the smaller of two city pools and right next to his church. They say that history may not quite repeat, but it sure does rhyme.

Any parent can look at their child and see both expected and unexpected similarities. A parent might pass on an upturned nose or predilection for disliking cilantro. A child might pick up their parent’s habits, eating and dressing and speaking the way they observe at home. Of course, this can also work out in reverse: I know an adult who was astonished to discover that he liked sour cream after a childhood of avoiding it because his dad disliked it. There’s research that shows that a child develops brand preferences as early as age two based on the influence of their parent’s preference.

This influence extends to faith, too. One of my colleagues says, “Faith is caught, not taught.” Parents and other adults who model prayer, worship, service, giving, and connection with the body of Christ influence kids to become adults who practice prayer, worship, service, giving, and connection with the body of Christ. The more sincerely and faithfully and openly any of us follow Jesus as his disciples, the more we may find that it’s affecting the people around us. I don’t mean we have to become perfect! The body of Christ already has plenty of hypocrites– sincere disciples are honest with themselves, with God, and with others about their need for God’s forgiveness.

It’s true that our greatest influence on our children, our friends, and our neighbors isn’t what we say: it’s what we do. It’s the faith that lives in us. It’s that fruit of the Spirit that lives and grows in us and produces a harvest that blesses everyone around us. And what lives and grows in us often spreads its seed to take root in others, too. Like Paul wrote to the disciple Timothy, the faith living in him was an inheritance from his mother and grandmother before him.

I cannot pretend to take any responsibility for the odd similarity of my middle school geography to my child’s. Even so, when I look at my kids, I see qualities, habits, preferences, and beliefs that I know came from me, or my spouse, or a teacher, or a VBS leader, or another influential person. When I look at my own self, I see quirks and characteristics picked up from decades of family, school, church, and friend influences. I sometimes preach sermons that sound just like a particular seminary professor or say phrases that I picked up from my grandma.

In a way, seeing this coincidence has served to remind me, and now all of you reading this, that our lives are not just for us. Our lives are influences for the people around us. The faith that is in us and the fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in us will affect those around us, especially those close to us. God has given you faith and good fruit so that you will share it.