As you all know, I don't post every week, as much as I would like to. If I tried to post every week, my posts would become shallow and probably often lack depth, because I was just trying to think of something - anything - I could post. So, my posts are often the culmination of months of deep thought and weeks of writing and editing.
Something I've been thinking about for months now is this thought of "Radiant Youth-hood." I've noticed a night-and-day difference between certain young people I know, even just in their countenance, let alone their speech and actions. What makes one radiate and another suck life? I've wondered. I knew the answer was in the Bible, but who should I turn to for an example?
I was directed to the life of Jesus. His childhood wasn't documented in much detail, but as a perfect Man, I think that his life deserves a diligent study.
So I studied it!
And the article that I wrote was over 17 pages long. (About the length of my National Bible Bee Recap post last year! :D) So I decided to break it up into a series.
Each week, I'll examine one of the examples in 1 Timothy 4:12, Word, Conduct, Love, Spirit, Faith, and Purity, and how Jesus fulfilled all of these in such a perfect way, setting the supreme example for all youths who want to radiate His light to others.
I hope you'll join me for the next 6 weeks. I did my best to make the articles a readable size. 🤩🤓
Introduction To The Series:
As many of you know, I've competed in the National Bible Bee for a long time. In fact, right now I am in the middle of studying from the competition that is only a couple of weeks away!!! One of the things that we study for the Bible Bee is “Cross References.” A Cross Reference is a passage of Scripture that relates to or correlates with another passage that you are studying. Often, it helps shed light on what’s going on, or points out powerful truth(s) that could otherwise be missed.
One night I was thinking about this verse:
Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. ~ 1 Timothy 4:12.
Immediately, God brought two Cross References to mind:
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. ~ Luke 2:52.
Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man. ~ Proverbs 3:3-4
You’ll notice that the phrase that is similar in these verses is “favor with/in the sight of God and men.” I bet that this is the prayer of the parents of every youth reading this. While Timothy was not necessarily a youth in my eyes (he was probably a good 8 years older than I am at the moment, when Paul wrote him the charge to let no one despise his youth, :D) Timothy was likely younger than many of the people whom he was teaching in his church. Paul wanted him to give them no reason for them to look down upon him, but to actually be an example to THEM in word, conduct, love, spirit, faith, and purity! In other words, he was to be a faith-prodigy. :D
Awhile back, I got hooked on watching prodigies. I found two piano prodigies that would play music for me day after day in the background as I did my work. :D Reading the comments under their videos, and judging from my own thoughts about them, I concluded that prodigies definitely receive favor from men. Some people even worship prodigies, which is disgusting, because that steals from God’s glory, but anyway, I can see how obeying 1 Timothy 4:12 and putting those things into practice in ones’ life could give one favor from men, depending on the type of person they are, whether they love righteousness or not. And, since God loves holiness, He would love it as well, though any favor He gave would be a complete gift of mercy:
What is man that You are mindful of him…? ~ Psalm 8:4a
…All our righteousnesses are like filthy rags… ~ Isaiah 64:6b
In this series, I will suggest some practical examples of how we can live out 1 Timothy 4:12 in our lives, based off of lessons on the life (mainly youth-hood) of Jesus Christ, the ultimate example.
However, before I do that, there is something of utmost and urgent importance that I must make sure is declared as clearly as I possibly can:
We are in danger of worshipping arrows.
What I mean by that, is that ‘good works’ are supposed to be a light that shines so that other people will be able to praise/glorify our Father in Heaven. (Matthew 5:16.) As I heard in a sermon recently, everything on earth is supposed to be a reflection or shadow of heavenly things - for example, we are given the ability to boast, which is supposed to be directed toward God and what He has done - but we so often distort the shadow, as in this case, boast about our own selves instead of what Christ has accomplished, which is the reason for boasting's existence.
Obeying 1 Timothy 4:12 is a dangerous thing, because the results will be very evident for people to see. We are in danger of worshipping our own good works, which are only meant to be an arrow, pointing to what Christ has done in us.
Also, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we are also not able to obey 1 Timothy 4:12! John 15:5 says that without Him, we can do nothing.
So… do you have Him? Does He live inside of you? If you do, His grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9) and He gives power to the weak and to those who have no might He increases strength. (Isaiah 40:29.)
For those who do not have Him, it is impossible for them to please God. (Hebrews 11:6.) We may be the most eloquent, gracious, kind, moral, pure person we know, but God will see only dead works, because our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1) have not been covered by Christ’s blood. All of us are spiritually dead, in trespasses and sins, headed for the punishment we deserve. Jesus already took upon Himself the punishment that we deserve, though, so if we accept His incredible gift with belief and, in gratitude, repent of our sins, He will make us alive! Dead people can't do anything for themselves, and the reason we are dead until Christ makes us alive, is because… we’ve killed ourselves, by our sin. We deserve to be left dead, but thanks be to Christ who died so that we can live!
After we are alive, then, because He is living inside of us, we can do good works. He changes our desires and gives us the grace to do what He commands. In this way, all glory goes, rightfully, to Him, and no glory, rightfully, to us.
So, as you read the following lessons, I beg you to please think about where your good works are coming from. Matthew 7:21 says that not all who call Him ‘Lord,’ and have good works to show will enter His kingdom, only those who do His will, which we can't do unless we have been made alive. (Philippians 2:13 - “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”)
Without further adieu, part I of the series "Lessons From The Life Of Jesus."
Example In Word:
The first example we are given is about words. This one nearly makes me tremble, as I think about the serious emphasis on using our tongue well throughout the Bible. I'm sure you can think of the verses yourself. I encourage you to get on biblegateway.com sometime and search for lips, tongue, or word, then make a list of the passages that stand out to you about the importance of our words, or the way that we are to use them. Powerful, terrifying stuff.
However, two big examples regarding words have stuck out at me from the life of Jesus:
1: Jesus Asked Questions
Jesus asked questions in His youth. This is a good percentage of what we know about His childhood, actually! The biggest story from this part of his life is usually when He is lost at the temple, listening to the scholars of God’s law, and asking them questions. (Later it says that He answered questions, as well. We’ll get there. :D)
How often do we ask questions? What about meaningful questions?
Practical Application: We need to ask questions, but we need to ask the right questions. For example, “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?” is not a good question to ask. (The correct question to ask is “Why does God even allow good things to happen at all to vile people such as me?!”) Also, we must ask the right people. Jesus wasn't asking the other 12 year old boys questions about the law. I know that we will be very blessed if we develop a close relationship with our parents and godly older people whom we look up to, to whom we can ask the right questions.
It's a given that we're going to have relationships in our lives - relationships with sibs, friends, parents, friends’ parents, etc. Why not turn those relationships into something meaningful by asking meaningful questions? Evaluate which is better: “Who is your favorite celebrity?” Or “How have you been reminded of the gospel in the past week?”
2: Jesus Knew God’s Word
How do I know this? Well, first of all, He is God and the Author of the Bible, but there are four other hints in Scripture that make me think that He knew His Word.
1) “And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.” ~ Luke 2:47.
It makes perfect sense that in the temple, where intentional discussions about the law of God (specifically the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the Bible) took place daily, and where He was talking to scholars of the law, that the conversation He had with them there was about the law of God.
2) Shortly after starting His ministry, Jesus visited His home town and, as His custom was, stood up to read a portion of Scripture in the temple. He was handed the book of Isaiah, and found a specific spot where it prophesies about Himself. This shows that He knew His way around the Old Testament well. He also knew the prophecies about Himself well.
3) He quoted Scripture up to His death. Next time you read through the gospels, try keeping your eyes peeled for Jesus quoting Scripture. He did it very often! This is actually one of the reasons that a lot of the Old Testament books were chosen for the canon, and a good point to bring up if someone ever questions the reliability of any part of Scripture, especially to believers. "If you believe in Jesus, who is God and the author of the Bible, why don't you believe in this part of Scripture, since Jesus Himself believed in it and quoted it with authority?"
4) He quoted Scripture after His death! How I would have loved to have been there as He opened up the Scriptures to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus! After He was resurrected, He appeared to two disciples who didn’t believe that He was resurrected and, restraining their eyes so that they didn't know who He was, He went through the Pentateuch (Genesis - Deuteronomy) and the Prophets, explaining to them all the prophecies about Himself.
Why is it important that Jesus knew Scripture thoroughly? Well, when one knows the Scripture well, and when they have memorized large portions of it, it becomes part of who they are, what they meditate on, and directs their thoughts and actions. In fact, it can even get so intertwined in their thoughts that they can have conversations with themselves, just quoting Scripture! This naturally will just flow out in their speech, and even control the way that they speak. If you don't know what I'm talking about, and don't know anyone who exemplifies this for you, it may be hard to believe, but trust me, I've seen it happen too many times to count, both in my own life and in the lives of others.
Practical Application: It is of vital importance to be watered by His Words daily. I encourage you to commit large portions of Scripture to memory. Here are 10+ tips I wrote down for memorizing Scripture. I also encourage you to look into the Bible Bee. The Bible Bee has been a big part of my motivation in previous years to memorize 5 books of the Bible so far and about 3,000 verses and counting. (I never thought I could do that much in my LIFE!) However, now that I have that much committed to memory, if I wasn't able to do the Bible Bee, I would memorize on my own initiative, because I see the treasure in it. :D
Our brains are capable of way more than we think they are. I was just thinking to myself the other day that it is so terribly possible to have Psalms, Proverbs, and 2 or 3 epistles memorized by the time one is an early teenager, that I think that all parents, everywhere, should set that up to their children as a worthy and attainable goal. Try taking some time, today, to figure out a goal for yourself. Memorizing an epistle in a year, such as 1 Thessalonians, James, or Colossians in a year is a very good target to start with. Work at it every day, and you will slowly but surely see your ability to memorize increase, especially if you shoot high and are motivated to attain it.
Another thing our family has done is memorize one verse of Proverbs a day. We each have a notebook, and every day we write out the verse and draw a picture, while someone reads the chapter we're in. We've memorized 28 chapters of Proverbs so far this way, and it's only taken us a couple of years. Some of us have been able to quote the chapters once we've memorized them, some of us haven't, but in any case, we are very familiar with that book now, which is a good thing!
I once heard a pastor bemoaning how few people he knew who had memorized all 150 Psalms. I was taking notes when I heard this and looked up really quickly. How come I had never thought of that? The book of Psalms is my favorite book to memorize from, as it is usually unique enough that it doesn't take much repetition to remember.  Many of them are short and great for beginners.
I once figured out 3 options for how I could memorize the book of Psalms in 2.5 to 5 years:
1: There are 5 books of Psalms, and I calculated that if I memorized 2 Psalms a week, I could have the book of Psalms memorized in 2.5 years, memorizing 1 book of Psalms a year. This averages out to about 2.7 verses a day.
2: Or, if I memorized 2 Psalms a week for 6 months I could have one book down and then I could move onto an epistle for the rest of the year, and some extra random passages that I wanted to memorize (or Bible Bee material.) Then, the next year I could start again and do 2 Psalms a week for 6 months and keep that up for 5 years. Then I could have the book of Psalms and 5 epistles memorized and several random chapters/passages in just 5 years! This is the option I am doing with a friend, while I can still compete in the Bible Bee. After I age out, I plan to switch to option #1.
3: Or, I could memorize 1 Psalm a week all year round and finish just the book of Psalms in 5 years, which is probably a more doable amount for most people, especially those who aren't used to much memorizing. This averages out to about 1.3 verses a day.
If you think that is a lot and not doable, I encourage you to give it a try. It may be hard at first, but the more you memorize, the more you can memorize. It only gets easier and easier for your brain, the more you work at it. It's a lot like starting to do push-ups. Though it may be hard for you to do a verse a week, push yourself for more and your brain will start to submit.
Every verse you commit to memory is a treasure without price.
Okay, just thought I'd challenge you! However you decide to do it, by reading, studying, or memorizing, I encourage you to dig furiously and thoughtfully into His Words and let them change your own. When His words dwell inside of a person, it bears evident, beautiful, God-glorifying fruit.
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
~ John 15:7-8
~ To The Utmost Glory Of God ~
P.S. Happy Reformation Day in just a couple of days!!! :D :D Sola Gratia! Sola Fide! Sola Christus! Sola Scriptura! Soli Deo Gloria!! :D