[Please join me in praying for children, families, and our future on Thursdays this year.]
“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.” (1 Timothy 4:12 NIV)
Today I met a friend and we were talking about our teenage children. Her 15 year old daughter is in an active church youth group with several great friends. Some of them went “Jesus-ing” last week; they went to a local public place and went up to strangers to talk with them about Jesus. Similarly, some of the young adults from our church (including my oldest) went with our church’s “house evangelist” to walk the streets of our city talking to people about Jesus.
I was (am) amazed. Why? Partly because I have never done something like that and can’t see myself doing it. Partly because I know how badly I would likely react if someone tried to talk with me in this manner. Maybe mostly because I admire their courage. In this day and age it takes a great deal of courage to live out Jesus’s call to go and make disciples.
I wonder if God’s call on this young generation is to be a part of the end-times-harvesters. As the world careens deeper into darkness, and as the time of Christ’s return gets sooner and sooner, wouldn’t it be like God to put in the spirits of this generation an urgency to share the Good News? Wouldn’t it be like God, who wants everyone to come to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, to pour out his Spirit in this younger generation so they can be used mightily? Wouldn’t it be like God to use anyone who is willing (young and old) to show people the Love, Peace, Joy, and Hope we have when we live in relationship with God?
Yes.
They may be young. They may be inexperienced. But God has a purpose for these lives. Children are deeply loved by God: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14 NIV) And as Paul told Timothy, “Don’t be intimidated by those who are older than you; simply be the example they need to see by being faithful and true in all that you do. Speak the truth and live a life of purity and authentic love as you remain strong in your faith.” (1 Timothy 4:12 TPT). So, let us bless them on their young, messy, growing-up, Jesus-seeking journeys.
Loving God,
Thank you for sending Jesus to show us your Love and to save the world. Thank you for your promises to return in the Last Days and to take your children home with you. Thank you that your love for humanity is so great that you purposefully train up your children to help bring their generation to faith in Christ. Pour out your Spirit in these last days so that young and old are empowered to share your Good News and make disciples of Jesus. Give us courage and faith to do what needs to be done for your Kingdom to come and your Will be done, we ask in Jesus’s name, AMEN.
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:17 NIV)
“Then [Jesus] said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’” (Matthew 9:37-38 NIV)
“In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.” (Matthew 18:14 NIV)
“For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day…No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:40, 44 NIV)