1 Timothy 4:12
“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young,
but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith
and in purity”
Yesterday I posted my first verse of the challenge:
1 Cor 15: 58 http://stevenuessle.blogspot.com/2015/03/daily-bible-challenge-post-1.html
I said then that the verse was my life verse and that is
still true for all the reasons that I mentioned. My verse today has been what I
would consider the verse of this specific season of my life. As I spent my time
in Seminary and as I have invested in teaching Sunday school to young adults,
this is the verse that is always in my mind.
As a younger leader in the church, Timothy has always spoken
to me as the book to consider. It is the writings of Paul to his protégé as he
passes on the wisdom he has gained to the next generation. Indeed I am the next
generation, but even that is starting to change.
This is the verse that has guided me for the past decade or
so, and is the verse that I want to emphasize to those that are coming after
me. It is natural for older generations to look down on the next generations,
as they do things differently than what is comfortable to those that are older.
The joke I always think of is that there are two things each
generation (of Christians) thinks – 1) all the signs in the world are pointing
towards Jesus returning very soon, and 2) the next generation is worse that
ours. I won’t comment on the first, but I never accept the second. And the
second will be especially untrue if they are committed to this verse.
I am generally committed to the anthem of the young – that
the generation before us has screwed things up enough to make their
institutions less than desirable in some ways (most especially the church), and
it will be our job to clean them up and make them desirable once again for the
next generation to screw up. Speaking of which, stay tuned for tomorrow…
The part i like about this verse is the fact that Paul is asking Timothy to set ann example...to be an example in speech, action and faith. Oswald Chambers puts it this way: "He does not turn us into spiritual agents but into spiritual messengers, and the message must be a part of us. The Son of God was His own message— “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). As His disciples, our lives must be a holy example of the reality of our message."
ReplyDeleteThank you Steve.