*Edited August 3, 2015.*
If you're reading this and you are considered to be youthful because of your age, I'm sure you've wondered many times why adults and the elderly tend to look down upon your generation and ones younger. Well, there are several explanations why and these reasons seem plausible to look down on them as inferior. First of all, they're being haughty, which Scripture clearly says is a sin (Proverbs 21:4). When one looks at the younger generations, what do they usually perceive? They see an abundance of idolatry, sexual immorality, narcissism, impertinence towards their elders, and the list continues. For all these reasons and many more, older generations look down on the younger generations. When they observe the younger generations they see them in small groups in areas such as malls, or school grounds, and they generalise that all young people are the same in this manner, just as young people generalise that all old people are slow, dull, and boring. The wise individual knows that none of these generalised accusations are true completely across the board. Some may meet these criteria for each generation, but that is not evident for the entirety of the generation. If you look at these statistics, they use these small numbers to justify the number of adolescents in the United States, which — according to the scientific method utilised in psychological and scientific endeavours — is utterly inaccurate and unreliable information. So although they don't realise it, not all young people are like the ones that they observe every day in public areas. Because of society, we all think it's right to look down on the younger generations because of their typical immaturity, but is that necessary for Christians? This blog entry is written mostly for the young believers in Christ, but if you are no longer in your youth I highly advise that you continue reading. As a young man or woman, do not be ashamed of your youth.
Paul gives an important teaching in his first letter to Timothy. In 1 Timothy 4:12, he writes, No one should despise your youth; instead, you should be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. This is one of my top favourite verses because it describes the importance of youth and goes against the common societal belief that the activities of the youthful should be ignored and persecuted. Note what Paul continues to write in verse 14: Do not neglect the gift that is in you; it was given to you through prophecy, with the laying on the hands by the council of elders. This gift probably refers to Timothy's calling to ministry indicated by God ("through prophecy") and was recognised by the church (the laying on of hands by the elders). This is a significant statement. Here, Paul is urgently writing to Timothy to not neglect his gift of ministry because the elders themselves recognised this prophetic gift in the church, and that because of this nobody should despise his youth because his age is irrelevant to his calling. This is such a great passage for someone like me who is a young, prospecting pastor, and many others like me whether they're seeking to become pastors or not. The same applies to you, young people. As a born again child of God, be an example to everyone around you in all these ways that Paul listed to the best of your ability and don't allow anyone to look down on you because of your youth. There are five things that you are to set an example of to everyone around you, especially the believers.
1. Speech
The first example is speech. Now, don't get ahead of yourself and think this means that whatever you say, adults have to listen to you and do what you say. Everything that Paul lists in 1 Timothy 4:12 is important not just as a young person, but as a human being as well, no matter your age, but even more so important in youth because for some unknown reason everyone scrutinises you in your youth. For some reason, because of your youth, you're out in the open. Let's take a look at Psalm 39:1, "I will guard my ways so that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle as long as the wicked are in my presence." If you keep your tongue from sin, how do you think people will respond to you or view you? They'll see something very different and unique about you; they'll see the righteousness of God. Words are very powerful. Words are the very basis of our actions. Whatever we do, we will probably do what we said (with the exception of hypocrisy, of course). If you watch your ways as David describes in this psalm, you will also keep your tongue from sin much easily. What David means by putting a "muzzle" on his mouth is putting a guard over it, much like that of a muzzle that you put on a dog's snout to prevent it from biting innocent people. Put a muzzle (guard) over your mouth for as long as the wicked are in your presence to prevent the venomous bite of the tongue upon innocent people, and the wicked are always in your presence, so you must keep this guard on at all times.
Proverbs 12:18, There is one who speaks rashly, like a piercing sword; but the tongue of the wise brings healing. You have to be wise in what to say and what not to say and even how you say it. If you just let your tongue speak freely, you run the risk of saying something that can really hurt somebody or saying it with the wrong tone of voice that will hurt somebody even if that wasn't your intention. Running the mouth wildly is exactly what bullying is. Bullying can get to such a large extent that it can even cause a child to commit suicide, or cause depression, which are all through intangible words. Again, words are extremely powerful, which is an understatement. Words are so powerful that it is the Word of God that created the entire universe! Realise how amazing this is! God literally spoke and everything came into existence! So be wise in what you speak and do not speak; have the discernment to know what is wrong and what is right to say, and when it's the proper time to say things as well as saying it with the right tone of voice or attitude. If you have that discernment, your wisdom in doing so will bring a spiritual and emotional healing to people by living out and speaking through the Word of God. It's admirable to always be honest, but you have to speak the truth tactfully.
We all must keep in mind what Paul wrote in James 3:8, ...but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. No matter how much you train yourself not to say anything bad or evil, you will always slip and say something of the kind. I've tried this many times, and every time I failed miserably. Being born into sin, we cannot escape it until we attain our salvation through Jesus Christ, which is at His second coming for us Christians. You can, however, lessen the effect of the evil that the tongue speaks naturally, but you cannot tame it completely. You can tame a lion, but it can still maul you. Being a Christian doesn't make you sinless, but it does enable you to sin less. As human beings, we speak what our flesh feels. Our flesh holds our sinful nature, and by inevitably speaking through our flesh we speak evil many, many times. But this is why I quoted Proverbs 12:18. If you have wisdom, you will have the discernment in what and what not to say, and therefore say less iniquitous things. If you say less iniquitous things than the average human being, God will notice that, and He will bless you according to these things. If not, then He'll hold all the things of which you said against you at the time of judgement (Matthew 12:36).
2. Life
The next example, life, might be a little confusing. You might be wondering, "How do I set an example of life? Is it through my actions?" In some regards, yes. Psalm 16:11, Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. This verse says "the path of life," but what is the path of life? David says it right in the same verse, which is joy in God's presence and His eternal pleasures. By being with God, He will give you a happy life and you will have abundant pleasures. These are not visible, materialistic pleasures (although He can use that), but rather are mostly pleasures such as happiness, various blessings, His righteousness, His favour, and the list goes on, which are interestingly things we all desire. But this doesn't mean your life will be all flowers and daisies all the time; there will be inevitable struggle, but that's a subject for another day. When you're with God and He makes known to you the path of life, many others will see that you are on a very happy, blessed path and they'll wonder how you came to consume that. Little do they know that you received it through Jesus Christ. If they ever come to know that, they'll just maybe seek God just as you sought Him.
Proverbs 8:35, For whoso findeth Me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD. When you find God, you find life — that is, eternal life. What can be better than that? There are many religions that speak of immortality, but most of them just beat around the bush and don't really tell you how, and those that say you can are highly misguided. For instance, with Buddhism and their belief on immortality (otherwise known as Nirvana, which is similar to our Heaven), how they reach that is through making things better in their own life through however many reincarnations you need to go through in order to get there, which is where karma comes into effect. You basically just do the best you can to be a "good person," which as we know from Jesus' teaching not one person is good (Mark 10:18). So really, you have to discover how on your own in that silly religion. It's ridiculous. As far as I'm concerned, Christianity is the only genuine religion where you attain immortality through love — God's limitless and unconditional love and loving others. Finding life in God gives you favour from Him, which are blessings in many forms. He will bless your life abundantly in return for you deciding to live your life for Him. By living this example, many people will see this light in you and wonder how you are so "lucky," but it's not luck. Many people, even Christians, fail to see that in God's kingdom there is no such thing as "luck" or "chance"; every decision He makes is made for a reason — for His greater purpose. Luck is the most quintessential human delusion in which we utilise this term to justify the odds of something happening — sheer mathematical probability. In terms of luck, it is simply a blessing from God. In terms of bad luck, it can be a trial that the Devil has set against you and it is up to you to pass this trial and please God and receive His favour even more, or it can be God chastising you. (For more on this, see my two-part blog entry, "Facing Trials.")
In Luke 12:15 Jesus said to a crowd of thousands of people, "Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." Jesus then tells a parable of the rich fool. In the end, He sums up that we are to be rich in God, not in our earthly possessions. Do not be greedy in what you want and already have; give to others generously. Through your generosity people will see this and again see God's righteousness in you, and perhaps they'll desire to be the same way. Your possessions do not define your life; what makes up your life is what you make out of it. Will you have your life be composed of greed or selflessness? It all depends on what you want people to think of you and, ultimately and most importantly, how you want God to see you. If you want others to think of you as a conceited, narcissistic, greedy person, by all means be greedy and give to no one. If you do not, give generously and with a cheerful heart, "for God loves a cheerful giver" (II Corinthians 9:7). By doing this you are shedding God's light onto other people, even those who are just simply observing what you're doing. Of course, it's not always important what people think of you, but what people think of you can have an effect on how you influence the world. When people look at you, what do you want them to see? Do you want them to see God or something apart from Him?
James 3:13, Who is wise and understanding among you? He should show his works by good conduct with wisdom's gentleness. James is challenging us here. To gain wisdom, you must make a mistake and learn from that through the humility of it. Through your wisdom gained through your own personal humility, do good deeds towards other people and through that you can then show that you are wise and understanding. James asks who is wise and understanding, and if you are wise and understanding of people, sympathise with people and comfort them and show them God's love no matter the circumstances (this is wisdom's gentleness). Through your actions and your actions alone, show them the good life that they can have by the good life you have received from God, but not through boasting, just the example that you can give them through your actions. As soon as they see that, they may desire it and may come up to you in time to ask you questions. Answer their questions wisely, and not in the flesh. If an unbeliever asks you a question that upsets you, have the steadfastness to step back for a little bit, think through the Holy Spirit and not through anger and the flesh, and say what the Holy Spirit leads you to say as opposed to what you would usually say in the flesh. If you do this, you have wisdom and through that wisdom you will have understanding. However, it takes humility to make the mistake to not be steadfast in this in order to gain the wisdom and spiritual willpower to act against the flesh. I have made many of these mistakes, and I have finally gotten to the point where I can remain calm at all times. It took a very long time, though, so don't expect it to happen quickly. If it does, then great! You're better than I was. So, do good deeds through understanding in your good life, shedding your light on others, and they just may come to desire what you have through God and will hopefully seek Christ and receive the good life that they have always desired.
3. Love
One of the earliest commandments given by God is found in the Ten Commandments in Leviticus 19:18, Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself... This is perhaps one of the most "cliché" commandments in the Bible, but it nevertheless resounds to be true and one of the most important commandments given to us. To truly live in love is to not be vengeful or unforgiving. As you love yourself, you are to love your neighbours. Do not be ignorant and interpret this to mean only your next-door neighbours, but it literally means everyone around you because everyone around you neighbours your surroundings. This is not an easy task, but if you expect it to be then you're setting yourself up for failure. It's not supposed to be easy, but God nevertheless expects us to be loving towards one another, especially our enemies. Jesus makes a valid point in Luke 6:32, "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them." As a Christian, if you only love fellow Christians who love you or your family or friends, how does that make you any different than the unbeliever who loves fellow unbelievers and family and friends who also love them? You're exactly the same and we're not called to be like sinners but to be sanctified from our sins and therefore no longer like the rest. Jesus encourages us to love those who don't love us, for He says in John 13:34-35, "I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." He doesn't mean only love your brothers and sisters in Christ, but your enemies as well. What Jesus says in Matthew 5:43-44 supports my very statement: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you..." This is the epitome of love. How often do you see two people who dislike each other where one of them only says kind things? Never, if not very often, am I right? Step up in your faith and show love for your enemies. Doing so will make them see that you are Jesus' disciple, even if they can't accept it. When someone persecutes you or insults you, instead of insulting them back you must try to stop and pray for them. You don't have to pray for them right there on the spot, but you can just say kind things in return and then pray for them later.
If you only love those who love you, you have conformed to the world. Take a look at Romans 12:2, And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. The world of the flesh has many patterns of which we conform to. The pattern that we're focusing on now is loving those who love us and hating those who hate us. If you're one of these people, you have conformed to the world in this way. You must step out of this conformity and transform and renew your mind to love your enemies. The Amplified Bible translation says to do this "so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]." In this way of transforming and renewing your mind for God, you can then prove to yourself the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God, even the will that God will set for you. How awesome is that? Although you get some benefit for it, you selflessly benefit others first — you put their needs before your own.
Lastly, let's look at just what love is in I Corinthians 13:4-7: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. I think this passage should be applied to marriage more than anything, to be honest. Yes, it should be applied to every day situations, but definitely marriage, especially considering today's society with the high divorce rates. If you ask any one person to define love in their own words, they will struggle to come up with their own definition. Either that, or they'll quote a famous quotation, or a cliché. When someone asks me, I just use this passage, because no other definition or quotation is more true. And my own devised answer could never amount to Scripture's truth. If you truly love someone, you will do and keep from doing all the things that this passage lists. If you love someone, you will be patient with them and kind towards them, showing all sorts of care and stable concern. You will not envy them for their blessings or belongings. By loving someone and going out of your way to bring God's blessings towards them, you would not envy their blessings if you love them. You do not brag about your fortunes, be it materialistic or not, especially if they are in misfortune, and you would not take pride in anything. In other words, you must be humble — being lowly in heart just as Jesus was. You would not be rude, giving them time to speak and give their own opinion, and not lashing out out at them in anger if you disagree on something. You would not be selfish, for if you love someone you would be showing them God's love in a selfless manner to begin with, not some soon coming reward. You would be slow to anger, being wise and understanding about their actions and situations they put themselves in according to the circumstances they were under or were victimised by something. You would not act as God by being a judge and keeping a record of all their wrongs, holding many grudges against them; that does not teach God's love and mercy at all. You would not speak evil things towards them or behind their back, be it vulgarity or malice or malevolence — being wishful of evil things to happen to them; but you would rather rejoice with them in the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ who rose from the dead. You would always make a sincere attempt to protect their spirituality — to lead them away from the deceitful wiles of the Devil. You will always give them a reason to trust you, for you are a steadfast sheep of our Shepherd. You would always give them a reason to hope for the best, inspiring them and encouraging them that through Christ they shall succeed. And lastly, you would show them that through Christ, they will always persevere, for He will establish our needs and the desires of our hearts.
4. Faith
Many wonder why there are so many who do not believe in God, and the unbelievers themselves ask us Christians why as well. What is there to wonder? This was all inevitable and sure to happen, for Jesus said in Matthew 24:10, "At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other..." This was far from a prediction. Jesus was speaking of something that was sure to come, and look, He was correct, wasn't He? What Jesus means by "at that time" is when He said in the preceding verse, "Then they will hand you over for persecution, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of My name." He's speaking of Christians being put to death because of their beliefs, which is exactly what happened to every single apostle and continues to happen today. All except for the Apostle John, the author of Revelation. John was poisoned but miraculously survived and Caesar being annoyed, he exiled him to the island Patmos, which is eventually where John wrote the book of Revelation. There have been numerous Christian martyrs since then, and Christianity is illegal in 40 countries and hostile in 11 areas. Again, this was far from a prediction; it is the truth.
The main difference between Christians and unbelievers is that Christians "live by faith, not by sight" (II Corinthians 5:7). Unbelievers don't know what faith is; they always misinterpret and inaccurately define it. Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1, 3: Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen... By faith we understand that the universe was created by the Word of God, so that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible. Unbelievers think that believing everything that exists was not made out of visible things is the problem of today, but again they are mistaken. It has always been a problem since before "the age of reason." Why do you think Pharaoh Ramses would not set the Hebrews free? He always tried to disprove God's miracles with Moses' staff by using his magicians' petty magic. Why do you think Jesus was crucified? Because they didn't believe in what could not be seen — Jesus as the Son of God. Also because they claimed He was speaking blasphemy. This has been a problem since antiquity; it is nothing new, and the unbelievers' problems are nothing special either.
Be aware that both God and Satan will test your faith; however, they both have different incentives. Satan's incentive is to deceive you and defeat your faith so that you may suffer in his hellish commodity for all of eternity. God's incentive is to see if you are truly faith to Him, and if you are, you will be immensely blessed. Paul writes in II Corinthians 13:5, Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you not recognise for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless you fail the test. Paul encourages us to test ourselves, but we of course are not going to do that because we're afraid of failure. This sort of self-examination makes us afraid, or uneasy. But Paul makes the point that if you recognise that you're in the faith and have Jesus Christ in you, you will not fail the test. If you don't believe this or doubt this, you will fail. That's why God tests us without warning, which is why Paul wrote earlier in I Corinthians 16:13, Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be brave and strong. Don't live in so much anxiety in whether or not your faith will fail. If you live in so much fear, you will surely fail. If you don't trust in your faith in God enough, you will fail. Rather, be courageous and on your guard. Why should you be afraid if your faith will fail when you can so easily win? Ephesians 6:16, In every situation take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. It's a lot simpler than you think. James 4:7, Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. You see? It's that simple. Satan is afraid of God and if you stand up for Jesus, Satan and his fallen angels will be afraid of you as well, and they will run. But stand firm; they will return and try again. By this and many other ways you can show and prove your faith to many people. What would be the point of faith if you can't or don't prove it to others? James writes it perfectly in James 2:17, In the same way faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead by itself. If you don't show and prove your faith to others, they won't see any life in you (the life promised through Christ); they'll just see death (the eternal death without Christ).
5. Purity
Purity is a tough subject to preach about, for it is often misinterpreted. The last characteristic that Paul lists in I Timothy 4:12 is ultimately our goal as Christians. Prior to this he writes in I Timothy 1:5, Now the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Through a good conscience and sincere faith we can receive a purified heart. The tough question is, of course: What is purity? The answer is provided in I Thessalonians 4:3-8:
For this is God's will, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality, so that each of you knows how to control his own body in sanctification and honour, not with lustful desires, like the Gentiles who don't know God. This means one must not transgress against and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you. For God has not called us to impurity but to sanctification. Therefore, the person who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who also gives you His Holy Spirit.
The word "sanctification" in Greek is hagiasmos that can also be translated to mean "holiness." In this context of the passage it refers to the purification of the believer to God in holy and proper behaviour in regards to sexual purity. God's will is clear — to abstain from sexual immorality. This passage is not saying to abstain from sex in marriage but sex that deviates from God's standards. This would be premarital sex, incest, homosexuality, bestiality, rape, pedophilia, and adultery. We have to abstain from all these sexual immoralities so that we can control our own body — controlling the body's lustful and sexual desires that will lead to sin. If we sin in this manner, the passage here says that we "transgress and defraud" our brother. "Brother" in this context means a fellow Christian. A sexual transgression defraud's one's brother in the sense that sexual sin is a form of theft — you take something that does not belong to you (the purity of virginity). It defrauds the partner as well as the future spouse who alone has the only right in sexual matters. Paul gave us two reasons why we are to abstain from sexual immorality. The first is that God is "an avenger" who will judge the offence. The second is that sexual impurity violates God's command to sanctification. God gives us His Holy Spirit, so if a person mixes human sexual impurities with God's holiness, they reject God.
James 1:14-17, But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. It is through our selfish, fleshly desires that causes us to stray from our sanctification as described in First Thessalonians 4:3-8. When we desire sex from someone, we see an attractive person and our minds are filled with sexual thoughts and desires, and following those indulgences consumes your purity. Keep your body clean. When your flesh conceives this desire, it tempts you to sin. If you commit the sin — when "it is finished" — it can lead you to death, which is the eternal death in Hell, for no sexually immoral person will inherit the kingdom of God, among other things (I Corinthians 6:9-10). That's only if you do not repent and commit to the repentance, however (Proverbs 28:13; I John 1:9).
Paul gives his advice on purifying ourselves: So if anyone purifies himself from these things, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. But reject foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they breed quarrels (II Timothy 2:21-23). Peter continues this topic, teaching us how to be purified: By obedience to the truth, having purified yourselves for sincere love of the brothers, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again — not of perishable seed but of imperishable — through the living and enduring Word of God (I Peter 1:22-23).
Being born again — being a baptised Christian — you have purified your heart, for God cleanses us from our impurities, as He promised (Ezekiel 36:25). We purify ourselves by obeying God's true Word, and hope in His return we purify ourselves: Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure (I John 3:1-3).
So what is the outcome of a pure heart? Psalm 24:3-5, Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Saviour. If you keep your faith and allegiance in God only, watching your ways, you will have a 100% satisfaction guarantee of seeing our Father in Heaven.
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