by Jefferson David Tant<\/p>\n
Dear Readers,<\/p>\n
If you’re familiar with the Bible, God’s Word, you probably recognize that the words in this article’s title were written to a young man named Timothy, a friend of the apostle Paul. Note the full quote of the verse: “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe<\/em>” (I Timothy 4:12).<\/p>\n While it is obvious that we often look to older people, including our parents, as examples of how to live in the world, the apostle Paul’s message indicates that young people can also be examples of how we should live and conduct ourselves.<\/p>\n Young reader, have you ever thought of yourself as an example for others to follow? Some seem to want to enjoy the pleasures of sin in their young years and then get their lives in order when they get older.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, some do not get older. Death comes to both young and old. Accidents happen, disease causes death, and thus there is no time left to get one’s life in order.<\/p>\n James gives us some counsel about this: “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away<\/em>” (James 4:13-14).<\/p>\n Therefore, it would be wise to consider Paul’s instruction to young Timothy.<\/p>\n “Let no one look down on your youthfulness<\/em>.” Just because you are young doesn’t mean you cannot be an example for others to follow, whether they are your friends, your parents, or other older people. I have known some really good young people who were admired for the example they set for others to follow.<\/p>\n Speech:<\/strong> Give thought to your words and avoid foul language and cursing.<\/p>\n Conduct:<\/strong> Have you ever been on a tour through some unfamiliar place? How do you know where to go? You have a tour guide, and you follow where he leads you. In the same way, you can be a “tour guide” to others, as by your example, you are showing them the right path to take, the way to live in our daily lives.<\/p>\n As we give heed to Proverbs 8:20, we will also lead others. “I walk in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice<\/em>.”<\/p>\n Love:<\/strong> “Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity<\/em>” (Colossians 3:14). Then, in another well-known passage, Paul wrote about love: “But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love<\/em>” (I Corinthians 13:13).<\/p>\n Who can count the blessings that come when our hearts are filled with love? And consider the love Christ had for those who nailed Him to the cross. Consider this as an example for us. “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men<\/em>” (Luke 6:35). And consider Christ’s words while hanging on the cross. “But Jesus was saying, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing<\/em>‘” (Luke 23:34).<\/p>\n Faith:<\/strong> “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen<\/em>” (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is a necessary quality that leads us through life. Faith is one of the qualities that led me to recite the wedding vows to my wife over 65 years ago. Faith in a home in heaven has kept me on the pathway of life for these many years.<\/p>\n And how do we acquire this faith? God’s Textbook gives us a clear answer. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ<\/em>” (Romans 10:17). Question: How are you able to pass your school exams? Obviously, you study your textbooks. And be assured that every one of us will have a Great Final Exam. And we have a textbook to study-God’s Word, the Bible.<\/p>\n John informs us about this in Revelation 20:12: “And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds<\/em>.”<\/p>\n Purity:<\/strong> One commentator defines this as “chastity of body and mind.” We live in a world where we are surrounded by sex-movies, magazines, TV shows, as well as the revealing attire that some women wear. But this is not totally new in our generation, for lust has been around for a long time. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world<\/em>” (I John 2:16).<\/p>\n Therefore, we need to be on guard about what we look at and what we think about, so we avoid putting ourselves in temptation’s way. And girls, avoid wearing clothes that reveal too much of your skin-clothes that invite boys to look at you with lust in their hearts.<\/p>\n Show yourself an example:<\/strong> This final thought in Paul’s exhortation is important. Everyone who claims to be a Christian has a responsibility to live in such a way that others may see “Christ living in us,” as the words of one of our songs suggest. Do you want others to be like you? Do you ever try to conceal any of your activities from others, or your parents? If so, you need to realize that such activities are not good examples.<\/p>\n We should always be aware that others are watching us, so our words and actions should reflect Christ living in us. Note Paul’s exhortation to the church at Philippi: “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world<\/em>” (Philippians 2:14-15).<\/p>\n Our daily lives should reflect the words of one of our songs: “Christ liveth in me.”<\/p>\n Paul wrote to young Timothy, instructing him on how to live in this world, and his words are just as important today as they were 2,000 years ago.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Jefferson David Tant Dear Readers, If you’re familiar with the Bible, God’s Word, you probably recognize that the words in this article’s title were written to a young man named Timothy, a friend of the apostle Paul. Note the full quote of the verse: “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[309],"class_list":["post-98812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-youth"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31874,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-support-conscientious-objection\/","url_meta":{"origin":98812,"position":0},"title":"Do you support conscientious objection?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you or your church support selective conscientious objection and conscientious objection? Answer: Registering for the draft is a government law that does not violate any teaching of God. \"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1296,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-boy-girl-relationships-not-advisable-at-a-young-age\/","url_meta":{"origin":98812,"position":1},"title":"Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age Answer: Youth is a time of impatient desires. They want the things available to adults, but adulthood seems so far away. The typical teenage boy enters puberty around the age of 11. The typical teenage girl enters puberty around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32196,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-sin-to-take-out-insurance\/","url_meta":{"origin":98812,"position":2},"title":"Is it a sin to take out insurance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it a sin to take out medical insurance or legal insurance? Are we rather expected to put our faith in the Lord to take care of those things? Answer: We were taught to pray, \"Give us this day our daily bread\" (Matthew 6:11), but God still commands us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37138,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-lost-the-surprise-somewhere\/","url_meta":{"origin":98812,"position":3},"title":"We Lost the Surprise Somewhere","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I remember watching Mayberry RFD and related shows most of my childhood. Poor ignorant Gomer Pyle who worked as an auto mechanic was a notable character. But I can still recall my shock when I found out that Jim Nabors, who played Gomer, could sing --\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Gomer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":61889,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-book-of-my-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":98812,"position":4},"title":"The Book of My Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Job 19:23-27 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Each week the paper publishes its list of top selling books \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes the books are biographies, fictional stories, or fiction placed in historical settings. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They hope that others will also purchase the books, if for no other reason than curiosity. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many author\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6988,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-passages-that-refer-to-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":98812,"position":5},"title":"Are there passages that refer to THE Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have been studying the Lord's supper issues and one of our main concerns is about a second offering in which only a few partake, for the reasons you listed in your article (not doing it together). We have been questioning the idea of everyone taking it a second\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98812"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98816,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98812\/revisions\/98816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}