In this 76th installment of Bible Verse Sunday, which coincides with my 250th post published (Tuesday's post is the 250th post written), we will be discussing 1 Timothy 4:12. This verse should be of particular note to this year's high school and college graduates. Congrats to you all of you grads out there. Anyhow, here's the verse:"Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity."
The meaning of this verse is plain enough, reflecting one of the key faucets of God's personality: he does not judge the outside of a person, but rather what's in their heart. Here, the apostle Paul is instructing his protege, Timothy, to not be intimidated because he is a younger man, and by connection, less experienced. Rather, says Paul, even physically young Christians (spiritual youth is a different matter) such as Timothy should take initiative and step forward in the church to help and to lead where they are called and needed. (Alex and Brett Harris seem to have picked up on this when they wrote Do Hard Things.) This involves putting spiritual gifts to work in the church and in the world to do what we do best. In Timothy's case, he evidently had strong spiritual gifts, which may have manifested as miracle working, or something more mundane, such as administration. Either way, God desires that we each ascertain our respective spiritual gifts and discipline them into efficient tools for the furtherance of his will, no matter what our age.
In the main service in church today, the pastor continued in the series on Romans, discussing Romans 8:31-39. He said that here on Earth, God's "vote" is the only one that matters, and that you can always depend on his "vote" if he can always depend on yours. God, in essence, is one-hundred percent for us, as revealed in scripture. He has already won the spiritual battle for us, making us "more than conquerors." This doesn't mean that we'll win every battle here on Earth, or that we'll be protected from harm, but it does mean that God is always on our side.
There was no formal sermon in the High School service today, as we spent the service in a send-off ceremony for the graduating senior class. The graduating seniors fielded questions about what they're going to do after High School, what some of their favorite memories were, what they've learned from their time in the High School service, and what advice they'd give to the younger students. We were then served cake and lemonade, and I for one am always happy to patronize (most) events which involve free food. Once again, many congratulations to all of you grads out there. May the odds be ever in your favor!
Image courtesy of timesnews.net
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