BIBLE COMMENTARY/1Timothy 4: 12

1TIMOTHY 4: 12 – 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.

– Although this verse was written for Timothy, a young pastor in the time of the early church, but it can be used to teach young children of how to live their lives.
– It’s a command and also a suggestion, because God wants young Christians to get respect, but at the same time they have the freedom to choose following it or not.
– The reason young people are looked down by others is that they are young, less experience and tend to being impulsive. Most young people are not independent from their parents yet.
– To earn respect, young people have to be an example for others, especially for Christians who are older than them.
– In comparison, Christians have a set of higher standards than unbelievers, and it’s true in modern time when immoral ways have permeated into every aspect of human life,
– It is fairly easy to be an example for people who live with low standards, but it would be hard to be an example for people who live up to the standards of the Bible. That is where young Christians should aim to achieve.
– God wants young Christians to set an example for others in speech, in conduct, in love and in purity,
– We can look up other verses in the Bible to know more of how to have proper speech, or conduct, or know how to love according to God’s truth, and what purity actually means,
– About speech we can read James 3: 2, 2Timothy 2: 14, 1Corinthians 12: 8 to know more about it,
– About conduct: Romans 12: 11, Proverbs 22: 29,
– About love: 1John 4: 17, 2John 1: 6,
– About purity: Acts 15: 9, Jon 17: 19,

(to be continued)