Day 20

When we allow God to live in our hearts, He creates a hunger and a thirst for that which is right.

‘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)

When I was young, people used to say, ‘Children should be seen and not heard.’ Today, we encourage children to speak and share their ideas. The temptation is to send them outside and put them on their own – they do their thing; we’ll do ours.

Paul would not have stood for that. When he wrote to Timothy he said, ‘Young people, you set the example for the believers.’ And that is usually the way it works anyway! It’s normally young people who set the fashions, produce the music, start the radical movements and become discontented with the status quo – whether for good or ill.

In the last 50 years or so, young people began some of the most effective missionary movements. Paul recognizes that young people, with their willingness to change, to seek out new things, can effect change in ways that older and wiser heads struggle to do. Encourage the young people around you!

Think about the young people in your life. They may have a lot more to offer than you expect!