YOUTH

“Let no one despise you for your youth, but set for the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.”  (I Timothy 4:12)

In conduct, faith and purity.  It would seem of the ways we might claim the younger generation is modeling life for the rest of us, these might be at the bottom of our lists.

We expect grown ups to do these things, not the younger generation so much. And yet here we see it described as an expectation for them.

I don’t know how many of this up-and-coming generation think that way.  I’m guessing not that many do.  More should.

There’s a way for a child to represent Jesus — there’s a way a teenager can model the life of Christ — a young adult can show that Christ is first in their lives.

In the Old Testament, David prays:  “May our sons and daughters in their youth be like plants full grown.”  (Psalm 144:12)

He prays with a vision that sees what isn’t - maturity masquerading as youthfulness, not the other way around.  He sees it when nobody expects it.  He speaks life, hope and promise.  

That could be our constant prayer: May our sons and daughters in their youth be like plants full grown.

May we IMAGINE A CHURCH that has a heart and a vision for the coming generations and may we be a church willing to pour the living water out of containers our generation has never drunk from and may we be a church that leads thousands of young people in the way of Christ.