1 Timothy 4:12″¨ says “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.”

I no longer qualify for the above statement. But I try to make sure that others don’t feel ‘looked down on’ around me.
For 13 years Jon and I took part in Spring Harvest where, for part of that time, we led the 11-14’s age group. I loved working with those young people, but even more so, enjoyed leading and pastoring the young team around us.
Occasionally I will see one of those team members at a service or event and find out what God is doing in their lives. It is wonderful that very often they set an example to ME of what God is doing.

One such person is a guy called Matt Hollidge. I am always so proud of everything he achieves for God. His charity KORE (www.kore.uk.com) that he set up with his wife Juls, who we got to know and love later, is quite extraordinary. I LOVE hearing what is happening with them and the amazing ways God uses them for His glory. Such gifting!! Such exciting promises over their lives! I pray it will one day make for an amazing book of God-encounters!

Sometimes we can all be guilty of imagining that the young don’t have as much experience or gifting as ourselves. But we can be very wrong. Anointing is not about age. David was a young shepherd boy but he was anointed to bring down the most feared giant in the enemy camp.
Josiah became king way before he was even 10 years old. Samuel was a very young boy when God spoke to him that first evening. Many of the really significant Bible characters were children or young people.

This week the youngest daughter of the explorer David Hempleman-Adams has successfully skied to the south pole with her father.
Amelia Hempleman-Adams has become the youngest person to achieve the feat.
The Wiltshire pair began 97 miles from the pole, where Sir Ernest Shackleton abandoned his mission in 1909.
Both said they were “elated but tired” after enduring temperatures as low as minus 50C (-58F) and spending 17 nights camping in the Antarctic.
Miss Hempleman-Adams said: “This expedition has been an extraordinary experience. The biggest challenges were the freezing cold, dried food, pulling frozen poo in a sledge and dad’s snoring.”

It is interesting that she rates the snoring alongside the cold! But she never says she struggled to believe she could do it. (Her older sister was the youngest person to trek to the pole, so I guess giving up is not an option in their household!)

There are some incredibly gifted children and young people in our church – a number of whom I sense already, have been given real anointing to teach, preach, prophesy and minister. I, for one, want to be someone who does not hold them back by my ‘spiritual snoring.’

So I finish where I started today. With a prayer based on 1 Timothy 4:12:
God help me not to look down on anyone because they are young, but help me allow them set an example for me and other believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.
Amen!