1 Timothy 4:12-16: a reflection

12Let no man despise your youth; but be an example to those who believe, in word, in your way of life, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity. 13Until I come, pay attention to reading, to exhortation, and to teaching. 14Don’t neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the elders. 15Be diligent in these things. Give yourself wholly to them, that your progress may be revealed to all. 16Pay attention to yourself and to your teaching. Continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

Paul writes to the young Timothy with a charge that both encourages and challenges. Let no one despise you for your youth, he says, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Do not neglect the gift you have. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on your teaching. Timothy, young and perhaps underestimated, is not to shrink back but to prove himself by his example, to use his gift, and to watch his life and doctrine.

Notice the twin emphases. First, do not let youth, or any perceived inadequacy, become an excuse to shrink back; instead, be an example, letting your life speak. And second, do not neglect the gift God has given you; practice it, immerse yourself in it, let your progress be evident. Timothy could have let his youth make him timid; Paul urges him instead to set an example and to develop the gift entrusted to him.

Both apply to us. We can let a sense of inadequacy, our age, our inexperience, our perceived unimportance, keep us timid and holding back. Paul says: do not be despised; be an example. And we can let the gifts God has given us lie neglected and undeveloped. Paul says: do not neglect the gift; practice it, grow in it. Whatever your age or standing, do not shrink back; let your life be an example, and give yourself wholly to developing the gifts God has entrusted to you. Do not despise yourself, and do not neglect what God has given you to use for him.

Lord, Paul urged young Timothy not to let others despise his youth, but to be an example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity, and not to neglect the gift he had been given. Speak that to me. Keep me from letting a sense of inadequacy, my age, my inexperience, my perceived unimportance, make me timid and hold me back. Help me instead to be an example, letting my life speak. And keep me from neglecting the gifts you have given me; help me practice them, immerse myself in them, and grow. Whatever my standing, let me not shrink back or bury what you have entrusted to me, but give myself wholly to using it for you.