In his first epistle to Timothy, Paul says to him, “Let no man despise thy youth” (1 Tim. 4:12). As a young man, I well remember liking these words, and perhaps young people today can also relate to that feeling. Over one hundred years ago, a man named Joseph Conrad wrote a book entitled “Youth,” in which he describes his own experiences as the second mate on a ship from England bound for Bangkok, Thailand. It seemed that just about everything went wrong on that voyage, yet Conrad met it all with the typical self-reliance of a young man. He was only twenty years old at the time, a typical high-spirited and self-assured youth. Later, when he wrote the book at the age of forty, he reflected on the exuberance, energy and confidence he had exhibited on that voyage, while also noticing some of the indiscretions that had characterized him, due to his lack of experience. Perhaps some of our middle-aged and older readers can relate to this feeling.
An Example
The Word of God mentions youth a number of times and likewise gives us balanced instruction about it. First of all, as we have seen, Paul tells Timothy, who was evidently of a timid and retiring nature, not to let those to whom he ministered despise his youth. Why do older ones, even in natural things, sometimes despise youth? Because of a lack of experience, and perhaps a bit of a reckless, know-it-all spirit. On the other hand, why do young people sometimes look down on older ones? Because they may perceive them as having an ultra-conservative, stick-in-the-mud attitude that is reluctant to learn something new. But God recognizes spiritual energy and devotedness at any age, and if this is present, those who observe a younger man should not look down on him because of his age. However, it is abundantly clear from Paul’s instruction that something else is needed—there must be a godly walk. Timothy was to be “an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Tim. 4:12). Likewise, he was to give attendance “to reading, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Tim. 4:13 JND). There must be a walk in keeping with the truth, and not simply a head knowledge of it.
Questioning
It is common in our youth to question what we are taught, as we mature and start to think for ourselves. There is nothing wrong with this, for sometimes what we have been taught is wrong, whether in natural things or spiritual things. New inventions are often the result of questioning current thinking, and in spiritual things, it was a going right back to the Word of God that spawned movements like the Reformation. Another has aptly commented on this same thing:
“There is nothing wrong with young people having an attitude like that of the Bereans, who ‘searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so’ (Acts 17:11). ... However, such searching of the Scriptures must be done in humility and dependence on the Lord, not in a spirit of rebellion or pride. It is this spirit of pride and rebellion that necessitates a warning.”
It is interesting to note that Paul himself, as a young man then named Saul, was what might be called a “student activist,” who used his youthful energy and zeal to seek to tear down what he felt was a serious threat to the religion of his fathers. But his independent youthful ideas only led him to sin seriously against God and man. When he was struck down by the Lord on the road to Damascus, he became a Christian and began to use that energy profitably. In reflecting on his activities before he was saved, he was compelled to call himself the chief of sinners.
Pros and Cons
It is God who created youth with strength and energy, but the wisest of men (Solomon), at the end of his life, could say, “Childhood and youth are vanity” (Eccl. 11:10). Also, Jeremiah commented, “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth” (Lam. 3:27). The same God who made youth what it is also recognizes that sin has spoiled it and that it is often necessary to steer those youthful energies in the right direction, rather than letting them take a wrong course. Even the world sometimes recognizes this, for Benjamin Disraeli, prime minister of Britain during the nineteenth century, could write, “Youth is a mistake, manhood a struggle, old age a regret.” No doubt he recognized in his more mature years that he, like other young men, had been prone to make mistakes because of his overconfidence.
Remember Thy Creator
Our youth does not need to be that way. Likewise, Disraeli’s comments on manhood and old age do not have to be so in a Christian’s life. In the very next chapter (Ecclesiastes 12), Solomon gives us the antidote to the indiscretions and blunders of youth. He says, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth” (Eccl. 12:1). The creature cannot get along without his Creator, and especially now that sin has entered this world. Man’s natural desires lead him astray, and this is perhaps most evident when we are young. The fear of God must be present, and indeed Solomon brings this thought in, right at the end of the book: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Eccl. 12:13). For us today, the commandments of God no longer consist of seeking to keep a certain law in order to please God, for the Old Testament testing of man made it clear that there was no good in the natural man. But when the Lord Jesus came, He told men about the most important commandment that must be obeyed. When the Jews asked Him, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” His answer was, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent” (John 6:28-29).
In order to please God, whether in youth or in maturity, we need a new life from God. Then we can use our youthful zeal and strength in a right way and avoid the pitfalls that are so easy to experience in youth. More than this, we can have a youth that will not be despised, but will be a help to others. Again quoting Paul’s words to Timothy, “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee” (1 Tim. 4:16).
W. J. Prost