Have you ever felt too young, to do something of significance? Or possibly even too old, to do something important? Regardless of your age maybe you feel too small for that all-important big job?
Maybe you get a sense that you are too inexperienced to contribute something meaningful? Or possibly even too underqualified to make a real difference?
In the book of 1 Timothy, which is a God-inspired letter from Paul to his “son in the faith,” Timothy, Paul equips and encourages Timothy in things like doctrine, leadership, and living out the ways of God.
He writes: “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 (New International Version)
If you’ve ever felt too young, remember that God has purposefully put you where you are, at this specific time in history. He desires to use your passion, drive, vision, energy, and ideas to magnify His glory. You see things from a unique vantage point, and that is a great thing.
If you’ve ever felt too old, remember that God has purposefully put you where you are, at this specific time in history. You have grit, wisdom, leadership, and the gift of life experience. You see things from a unique vantage point, and that is a great thing.
The thing is, you and I are never too young, or too old, to be used by God.
Victor Biennoury, Samuel Anointing David
French, 1842
Paris, Ecole nationale superieure
des Beaux-Arts
For those of you who feel that you are too young – Maybe you need to be reminded that God used a young shepherd boy called David, to greatly impact the world. He was the youngest of his brothers and was not even included in a special sacrificial observance arranged by Samuel in Bethlehem. Nevertheless, he was the one that God had chosen to be king, a man after God’s own heart, and so he was summoned from the field where he was tending the families flock to be anointed king. (Refer to 1 Samuel 16:1-13).
And for those of you that feel as if you are too old – Maybe you need to be reminded that God used a person who, by today’s reckoning, would have been a tad too old. At the age of 80, God appears to Moses in the form of a burning bush and commands him to go to Egypt to tell Pharaoh to let his people go (Refer to Exodus 3, Exodus 7:6-7, and Acts 7:30-34). He then leads the Hebrew people for another 40 years through the desert towards the promised land.
The thing is, no matter our age, God has empowered each and every one of us to live a life that points people to know Him, and to love Him.
So, how can you do that?
You can set an example – in the way you talk, in the way you act, in the way you work, in the way that you love, in the way you live out your faith.
For Colossians 3:17 reminds us that “whatever we do or say, (we are to) do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.”
(New Living Translation)
You and I have been given an awesome privilege and responsibility to represent God. He chose you and I, as sons and daughters, to represent Him well. To be an example of what it means to love Him and love others. To follow His ways and teach them to those that follow us. We are to be an example!
So, what kind of example are you being?
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