I recently had someone make the comment to me: “maybe that’s something you’ll only understand when you’re older”. And I’m not going to lie, this really bothered me! No joke, I was thinking about it for the majority of the day!! Finally I just asked the Lord why I was so aggravated by such a small comment and that’s when I realized: it upset me so much because the enemy had twisted it into something that’s not true. This very lie is something the enemy so often uses to discourage and devalue young people. It sat so badly with me because it didn’t sound like the voice of my Father speaking to me.
And so God spoke this truth to me instead: He doesn’t disqualify me (or you) based on age. He doesn’t look at my youth as something that hinders me in any way from impacting people for the sake of the Kingdom. He is not simply waiting for me to gain more experience, or reach a certain age before He decides to use me.
In fact, as I looked through scripture, He often chooses the least likely person in the world’s eyes to carry out some of His most important missions. Here are a few examples:
- David was thought to be around 17 years old (and the youngest in his line of brothers) when he defeated Goliath.
- Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego could have been as young as 8 years old when they refused to eat food that was against traditional Jewish rules. Further, they were definitely under 30 when they were thrown into the fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar.
- The prophet Jeremiah was probably around 17 when God called him to speak to the nation of Israel.
- Samuel was around 12 or 13 when God called him into ministry.
Call me crazy, but I don’t think that God uses young people by accident. I think that he strategically chooses people who appear to have a ‘weakness’ so that His glory can be shown fully. I believe that it was precisely because these people were young that they were chosen by God.
1 Timothy 4:12 says, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” Timothy was a church leader while he was still very young, and not unlike the world today, church leadership positions were generally filled by the ‘older & wiser’. Consistent with God’s character though, he did not skip over Timothy just because of his age. Rather He went one step further and charged Timothy with the responsibility of setting the example for his church.
I think that everyone reading this is being called to be a Timothy in our world. I think that God is asking you right now to not only defy the stereotypes of ‘being young’, but actually to go beyond that and set an example for what a Godly life looks like.
Be the hardest working person in your workplace, count others as more important than yourselves, put down your phone for long enough to interact with the person sitting next to you at lunch, be incredibly generous, honor your parents, realize that even the breath in your lungs is a gift from God, start asking people questions simply because you want to know more about them!!
2 Corinthians 12:9 says, “And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” An unfortunate reality of the world we live in is that being young is often seen as a weakness. But I am not discouraged by that because the God that lives inside of me is not confined by the finite thinking humans so often subscribe to.
So here I am, committing to not only set an example in my youth, but also to boast in it.
Yes, I am young; no, that does not disqualify me.
Yes, I am young; no, that does not mean that God can’t use me for big things.
Yes, I am young; no, that does not mean that I am ‘less than’.
Yes, I am young; no, that does not mean I lack maturity or understanding.
Yes, I am young; no, that does not mean that I won’t change the world.
God is not looking for a certain age, gender, height, skin color, or occupation as a requirement for a Kingdom centered life. All he is looking for are hearts willing to be used for His glory and not their own.
He is ready and willing to use you, friends, if you are ready and willing to be used by Him.
