“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”
~ 1 Timothy 4:12
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you know a kid whose name is Timothy? Your dad has a cousin whose name is Timothy. Your dad’s cousin lives in Delaware – not very far from where you live. Do you know anything about the Timothy who is mentioned in the Bible? The Timothy who is talked about in the Bible had a special relationship with Paul. Timothy is called Paul’s spiritual kid. When Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy, your grandpaa thinks that Timothy may have been about your dad’s age. Paul had sent Timothy to Ephesus City to encourage the Christ-followers who lived there. Lystra was one of the towns that Paul visited on his first missionary journey. While Paul was in Lystra, Paul met Timothy and Timothy’s ma. Timothy’s ma’s name was Eunice. Eunice was a Jew. Timothy’s dad was a Greek. Timothy’s dad was not a Christ-follower while Eunice was a faithful follower of the Old Testament law. Eunice’s ma was also a faithful follower of the Old Testament law. Eunice, Eunice’s ma and Eunice’s kid – Timothy, having accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior had become Christ-followers. The first letter that Paul wrote to Timothy was almost twenty years after Paul first met Timothy. How old do you think that Timothy was when Paul first met him? Your grandpaa thinks that Timothy was maybe twelve to fifteen years old when Paul first met him. Timothy was very serious about being a serious Christ-follower. Paul took on discipling Timothy. Timothy would travel with Paul to different places. As Timothy learned from Paul, Paul had Timothy do different things. Your grandpaa likes to tell guys, gals and kids about who Timothy was – as your grandpaa sometimes feels like he is a Timothy. Timothy was a timid guy. If a guy, gal or kid is timid, he or she is nervous or shy or apprehensive or fearful or scared about doing something. Are you ever nervous or shy or apprehensive or fearful or scared about doing something? Your grandpaa is an introvert. An introvert does not like to be around a lot of guys and gals – especially loud, bossy guys and gals. Your grandpaa does not mind though going someplace and/or doing something with one other guy. Do you enjoy going places and/or doing things with a lot of kids?
Paul would courier two letters to Timothy. These letters were the last two letters that Paul – before he was put to death by Nero, would write and send. Paul in the first letter that he sent to Timothy explicitly cautioned Timothy about apostasy. Paul warned Timothy in Timothy 4 about guys and gals who were leaving their Christ-follower faith to return to worshipping idols. Your grandmaa and grandpaa have heard accounts here in Guatemala about pastors who have had Bible training who decided to become Mayan priests. Guys and gals who follow Mayan beliefs make sacrifices to the earth. These guys and gals have altars where they make these sacrifices. Your grandpaa saw in the news recently of guys taking a pig to the top of a volcano to sacrifice the pig. The guys thought if they sacrificed a pig, a place would open up at the top of the volcano where the water which was accumulating in the volcano’s crater could run down the side of the volcano. If these guys did not somehow find a way to drain all the water from the volcano’s crater, the area holding the water could suddenly burst open allowing the water to rush down the side of the volcano. This took place a couple of years ago in Nicaragua. Nicaragua neighbors Guatemala. A hurricane called Mitch passed over Nicaragua. Mitch’s steady, torrential rain filled up the crater of one of the volcanos in Nicaragua. Because of all the water that accumulated in the crater, a place on the crater’s wall suddenly opened up allowing all the water that had collected in the crater to pour down the side of the volcano. The water and muck that flowed down the volcano’s side destroyed and covered a lot of houses and a town – killing thousands of guys, gals and kids. There is a growing number of guys and gals in a movement today – called New Age, which encourages guys and gals to return to worshipping Mayan gods. This is happening right here at this time in Guatemala.
Paul also urged Timothy to not to neglect using the gift that God that had given to him. God had showed Timothy through a special way the gift that He had given to him. Timothy had some elders or church leaders lay their hands on him. The gift which God had given Timothy was shown to him. This shy, timid young guy had been given the evangelist gift as a gift from God. Your grandmaa really likes to help Christ-follower guys and gals find out which one of the seven motivation gifts that each guy and gal has been hardwired to have. Paul had expectations of what he expected Timothy to do while he was in Ephesus. Paul told Timothy to just keep on publicly reading the Scriptures, to keep on preaching and to keep on teaching. This is exactly what your grandpaa tells the guys who are in the Bible education programs here in Guatemala and what your grandpaa told the guys who studied in the Bible leadership training center in Bolivia. Your grandpaa tells the guys who are being enabled to be church leaders not to look for problems to fix as they will never be able to fix all the problems that they will find in the church or group that they might lead, but instead, to just do what Paul told Timothy to do – just preach and teach God’s Word and to let God fix the problems while He changes the hearts of guys and gals. Paul also told Timothy to be a standard for other young guys by doing what verse 12 says “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” About one out of every four guys and gals who live in Guatemala call themselves an evangelical. This means that over three million Guatemalan guys and gals are God’s elected guys and gals. What the Guatemalan Christ-follower guys and gals need are more Timothys.
1 Timothy 4 (103)