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.
1 Timothy 4:12
Paul Hands Over the Mantle
This verse comes from a letter written by Paul to his protégé Timothy. Timothy was a bit younger but was still an influential leader in the early church. As Paul is preparing to hand the mantle over to Timothy, he writes this encouragement. Instead of letting others look down on him because he is younger, Timothy should hold himself in a way that does not allow people to look down on him. He should be setting an example to all believers throughout the church in speech, in how he conducts his life, and in how he loves others. And also in his faith in God and in his purity—his physical purity, as well as his mental and spiritual purity.
It Cuts Both Ways
While we may not be as young or influential as Timothy, we can still take some truth from this verse. Yes, Paul is writing to Timothy specifically. But we can still take away that we need to be an example for others in speech. That is, in how we talk to one another, we should be loving, clear, concise, but still telling the truth.
We can do the same in how we conduct our lives, our marriages, how we conduct ourselves at work. These are all examples that people can follow, or at least they should be.
The same is true for how we love one another and how we love God as well. If we're not loving our spouse well, we're not setting a great example to other believers. The same is true in our faith. If we're not serving, if we're not giving to good causes, if we're not generous people, we're setting a bad example in how we live out our faith. The same of course is true with our purity. If we're not living lives of purity and keeping ourselves "clean," then we're setting a bad example to older and younger believers as well.
And for those of us who are a little bit more seasoned in our faith, or a little bit older in age, we can take this from the opposite direction. We don't look down on people because they are young, knowing that we were once young and looked down upon ourselves.
Prayer
Jesus, help us to be good examples to all who look to us, whether that's newer believers or older believers. It doesn't matter. Help us to be good examples.
For those of us who are young, help us to take this to heart so that we don't let others look down on us because we're younger. For those who are older, help us not to look down on those who are younger, knowing that we were younger ones as well. Help us to treat each other fairly and with love. Help us conduct our lives in a manner worthy of how you have called us to live. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.