Set an example
Day 645, Monday, May 18
1 Timothy 3:14 – 6:2
The letters of Timothy are letters written by Paul to a much younger man who was once Paul’s student and follower and is now respected by Paul as a colleague.
Paul urges Timothy to remain faithful in his teaching and to instruct the community in how to live the life of faith. He encourages him not to allow others to think less of him because of his age. “Command and teach these things. Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in faith and in purity.”
For those of us who are older, this is a reminder that age has no corner on wisdom. Those younger than us can be an example for us as much as we would hope to be for them.
For those who are younger among us, it’s a reminder that older people aren’t a different species. They are also men and women who have the need, the capacity, and, in many cases, the willingness, to learn.
Two unfortunate side effects of the modern educational system is that it creates the idea that learning can only flow in one direction (from older people to younger people) and that people of different age groups should be rigidly separated.
For many years the church appropriated the same model. I wonder how much we could benefit from seeing young and old more as learners together.
It is also beneficial to look at this verse more broadly. The advice not to let people look down on you because you are young could apply to any reason we might consider ourselves unable to share the gospel. We might think people look down on us because we are old, or because of our sex or race or income level or educational level or job or any characteristic.
Whoever, and whatever, we are, hear Paul’s words as encouragement to “command and teach these things” and to “set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in faith and in purity.”
Monday meditation
Psalms 119:153-160
Look on my suffering and deliver me, for I have not forgotten your law. Defend my cause and redeem me; preserve my life according to your promise. Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek out your decrees. Your compassion, Lord, is great; preserve my life according to your laws. Many are the foes who persecute me, but I have not turned from your statutes. I look on the faithless with loathing, for they do not obey your word. See how I love your precepts; preserve my life, Lord, in accordance with your love. All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal.
Prayer focus
Let us not be intimidated by the limitations we see in ourselves, but be strengthened by your might.
-Rev. Mark Fleming