Let No-one Despise Your Youth

Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

(1 Timothy 4:12-16)

Today, some of the things people often associate with youth are disrespect, rebellion, self-absorption, conformity to peer pressure, indifference to serious issues, and a fixation on fun as the only thing that satisfies. Paul says in verse 12, "Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity." It is obvious that even in Paul's time the youth had lesser expectations of them. Paul is telling Timothy and us to care about this. "Let no one despise your youth." We are to do what we can to erase this predominant image of youth. How does Paul say we should do this? How does he tell us to cease this adult hatred of youth? 

Not by doing what these adults want. Not by pampering to their wishes. Rather youth must look towards God's standards of love, faith and purity. "Be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity." Let your words and actions reflect what God wants and thus be an example to those older than you. 

There will no doubt be adults who will despise you for this. Christian conduct, as a result of Satan, is despised in today's world. But ultimately it won't matter because it will not be despised by God and those people who really matter. 

The point that Paul is making clear is that youth should not underestimate the impact of their actions on older people. Obeying God's commands will cause adults to take notice of you. It will be an example to them. 

Very few young people think today that they are called to set an example to those older. It should be the other way around, they say. That is true of course, but here youth are commanded to be the example. 

Alex and Brett Harris have published a book, Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion against Low Expectations. They started The Rebelution when they were sixteen. It is a mixture of a rebellion and a revolution from the low expectations that society has of teenagers. This is how they start their book:

Most people don’t expect you to understand what we’re going to tell you in this book. And even if you understand, they don’t expect you to care. And even if you care, they don’t expect you to do anything about it. And even if you do something about it, they don’t expect it to last. Well, we do. (p. 3)

The point is, the usual adult expectations for youth are too low. And these twins are out to raise them. I believe that is the right direction to move. And so does Paul. 

Now I want to run through the circumstances that every Christian young person finds themselves in and thus why they should be inspired to do hard things to be an inspiration. First they were born in sin. Just like David did in Psalm 51:5, we can trace our corruption way back to our being conceived and our birth. So all children are sinners in need of salvation (Genesis 8:21; Proverbs 22:15). 

Second, they need the gospel. This is the only way of finding out how to be cured from this sin they were born with. The knowledge and belief that Christ died for them will give them salvation. The way they obtain this gospel varies, as God works in the most marvellous ways possible, but the most common method He uses is the teaching and admonition of the child's parents (Psalm 71:17; Ephesians 6:4). 

Thirdly, God gives His child a new life so that they realise this gospel as being true and they accept it and believe it. His Holy Spirit creates in them a new heart from an early age so that they can say with the psalmist, "For You are my hope, O Lord God; You are my trust from my youth. By You I have been upheld from birth; You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb. My praise shall be continually of You" (Psalm 71:5-6). 

Peter says in Acts 10:43, "To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins." Therefore children are also forgiven. According to Psalm 25:7 all our sins from our youth will be forgotten. 

Fifth we know that God treats them as his own children. That means he gives them trials and afflictions to purify the heart and to make their faith strong and mature. He acts as a father to them (Hebrews 12:6-8). 

Sixth, we can see from multiple scriptural passages that God, as a result of the previous points, uses youth in His service by giving them wisdom greater than unchristian adults. David prays that his children "may be as plants grown up in their youth,"(Psalm 144:12). By this he means that the strength and fruitfulness of the more mature plant will already show itself in his children even while they are young and the expectations for such fruitfulness is low. Proverbs was written to give youth the wisdom for this to be the case. "The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel ... To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion" (Proverbs 1:1, 4). Wisdom is not only for the aged, but also for the young. Ecclesiastes makes it clear that it is possible to have a wiser youth than a king. "Better a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king" (Ecclesiastes 4:13). In the book of Job, Elihu makes it clear that it is not age that makes one wise. He says, 

"I am young in years, and you are very old; Therefore I was afraid, And dared not declare my opinion to you. I said, ‘Age should speak, And multitude of years should teach wisdom.’ But there is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. Great men are not always wise, Nor do the aged always understand justice." (Job 32:6-9)

Youth does not necessarily mean foolishness or less wisdom than the aged. Thus young people should not use this as an excuse to settle for low expectations. Do not be like Jeremiah who used his young age as an excuse for not proclaiming God’s word (Jeremiah 1:6-7). Do God’s will regardless of your age, for this is what He commands. Don’t say “I am only young,” as if the only thing you can do is sit around on Facebook, or watching TV and videos, or playing games. There is ministry for you to do even though you are not as old as others. 

It is my prayer that the next generation will glorify the gospel of Christ from an early age. Saturate your life with God and His Word. Know in your heart that the Father created you, that Christ died for you, and was raised to defeat death for you and that the Holy Spirit sanctifies you even now. Turn that into a positive effort to exceed today’s expectations of youth. Read Do Hard Things. Build up your faith so you have the courage to rebel against low expectations. Then go and do hard things. 


See an adapted and extended version of this meditation here, first published in the Contender 11th November 2012.