A meaningful conversation is like lightning. You never know when it is going to strike. On the way back from Dairy Queen, I had a conversation that changed the course of my life.
“What do you want to do with your life?” Martin asked. Martin was the camp director at the camp I was helping at.
“One day I would love to lead a church. For now, I plan on finishing up at college. Maybe I’ll get an internship in youth ministry. Once I have enough experience there, I can start leading adults. Then once I’ve done that for a while, it would be awesome to plant a church. But who knows how far off that is?” My answer was very diplomatic.
I’ll never forget what Martin said to me next.
“You are kidding me, right? Josh, I want you to know that you don’t have to wait to do big things for God’s Kingdom. In fact, I’m scheduled to preach at my church this upcoming Sunday. If you are able to stay in town after camp, I want you to preach instead.”
At the time, I was 19 years old. I had never preached a sermon. I had never even taken a public speaking class. And Martin was offering to let me preach at his church? Now that’s trust.
To my relief, I couldn’t stick around because I had another camp to be at the following week. I’m sure that sermon would have been a train wreck. In a way, that’s the point. Young people need someone to trust them—even if they fail miserably.
“Young people need someone to trust them—even if they fail miserably.”
It’s hard to overstate the significance this conversation had on my life. Martin believed in me before I believed in myself. I looked at myself and saw a teenager. Martin looked at me and saw an emerging leader.
My conversation with Martin that day reminds me of the words that the apostle Paul wrote to his apprentice Timothy:
“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)
Timothy found himself in a challenging leadership position. He was leading the church in the ancient city of Ephesus. Paul wrote Timothy to correct people whose lives were inconsistent with the way of Jesus. Paul also told his apprentice to implement structural leadership changes in the church. It would be one thing if Timothy had grown up in Ephesus and had a lifetime of rapport with the congregation. But Timothy wasn’t from Ephesus; he was from Lystra. Not only was he an outsider, but he was young. But how young is young?
Sometimes when people read this passage, they think of Timothy as a teenager Paul left behind on one of his mission trips. Home Alone style. That’s not entirely accurate. The Greek word for young is neotēs, which refers to a person of military age. In this case, young could be anyone aged twenty to forty. Timothy was likely in his thirties as Paul wrote these words.
God does not give us a spirit of fear: “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.”
The point isn’t to try to figure out exactly how old Timothy was when his mentor Paul wrote him a letter. The fact is that there were people in the Ephesian church who didn’t respect Timothy. They thought he was too young to lead. They were older than he, and they were convinced they knew better.
External Opposition
Timothy faced external opposition to his leadership. You’ve probably faced this as well. How can you make a difference if no one gives you a position of authority? Why speak up if no one is willing to listen to your voice? When will someone let you make a decision for once? The irony of our modern culture is that everyone wants to look young, but no one respects you if you are young.
It’s frustrating to feel like God is asking you to do something big, only to be stopped short by the system, culture, or older people around you. Some young people respond by exploding into arguments with the naysayers. They think that the best way to make a path forward is to be a steamroller.
Others who are young quietly simmer in their anger. They disengage and retreat from relationships with older generations. Both of these approaches deepen generational divides and erode healthy community. The path of anger is a dead end.
Paul doesn’t tell Timothy to argue or disengage. He tells him to go ahead and lead by example. Live a life that people look up to. You don’t need a position, a platform, or a certain personality type in order to influence others. Often the best way to make a difference is to show people how to live through your actions.
You can build someone up with your words today. You don’t have to wait to live a righteous life. Love your neighbor with the sacrificial love of Christ. A good leader is a person that people love to follow. If you live a life that people look up to, pretty soon people will be following you whether you asked them to or not. Leading by example is an often overlooked yet potent way to make a difference.
God does not give us a spirit of fear: “Paul doesn’t tell Timothy to argue or disengage. He tells him to go ahead and lead by example.”
Internal Insecurity
Timothy faced another obstacle in his leadership. He was timid. We know that Timothy had a recurring stomach problem. Some speculate that this was caused by his nerves. Paul has to remind Timothy that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7, NIV). Timothy dealt with internal insecurity. Maybe he always lacked self-confidence. Or perhaps he let discouraging words of others cause him to question his calling. If you hear a lie enough times, you might begin to believe it.
The moment we declare faith in Jesus, the enemy declares war on us. Things really start to heat up when we begin to make a difference for God’s Kingdom. If you’re sitting on the sidelines, the devil has nothing to worry about. It’s once you begin to activate your spiritual gifts that the battle begins. If the external opposition won’t work against you, the enemy will try to shake your inner world.
Have you grown up around disheartening voices? Do you ever doubt that you’ll do anything significant? Do you compare yourself to others and feel like you don’t have any spiritual gifts? Is your personality quiet and unassuming? How secure is your identity?
“God does not give us a spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
It’s essential that your identity is securely rooted in who you are in Christ, not in what you do for him. As a Christian, you are adopted in the family of God. You are forgiven and redeemed. You are saved by grace through faith. You are invited into the Kingdom. You have been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. All of this is true because of the gospel, before you even had a chance to say, “Thank You!”
Once we know who we are in Christ, we are ready to go into battle. I love how Paul tells us to put on the helmet of salvation. We must always keep the truth of the gospel present in our minds. It’s the new reality that we live and breathe every day.
Everyone has days where they doubt they are called to do anything significant for God. I’ve had plenty of my own. Just know that if God called you to it, he’ll see you through it.
Paul believed in Timothy even when Timothy didn’t believe in himself. We all need a Paul in our lives.
Use It or Lose It
Have you ever started a fire with a match? It’s important to delicately manage the amount of oxygen you give the small flame. Blow too hard and you’ll put it out like a birthday candle. Don’t give the flame any oxygen, and it’ll flicker and fade. Fail enough times and you’re out of matches.
Paul told Timothy to “fan into flame the gift of God” (2 Timothy 1:6, NIV). The years of your youth are a gift. On the one hand, you don’t want to burn out by attempting to do too much too soon for God. At the same time, if you never exercise your faith, the fire will die out on its own. Lean in and blow lightly on the flickering flame of whatever gifts, passions, and opportunities God gives you. Give it enough time and enough fuel, and you will see a wildfire of impact for God’s Kingdom. I recognize that it doesn’t always feel easy to be a young person. I remember trying to get my first job in high school. I must have handed in a dozen applications for everywhere from Subway to Walmart. I didn’t get a single call back. It can be hard to catch a break. You’ll encounter plenty of external opposition or internal insecurities.
At the same time, there are things about you when you are young that give you a youthful edge. My book What Are You Waiting For? will fan into flame seven skills that you can start practicing today. Some of these skills you might already possess as natural strengths. In the book, we’ll talk about how even your weaknesses can be leveraged for God’s purposes.
God does not give us a spirit of fear: “Paul told Timothy to ‘fan into flame the gift of God.'”
Here’s the deal with these characteristics—they are “use it or lose it.” If you don’t use them when you’re young, you will naturally unlearn them as you get older. It’s just the way it works. The season you are in is only an advantage if you make the most of it. The ticking clock adds to the gravity of the situation. Hone these skills and you’ll take them with you into the rest of your life.
Your youthful edge is like a muscle. If you train these skills, they will become strengths. If you do nothing, you will atrophy. It’s scary to put yourself out there and try to change the world. You won’t know what you’re doing all the time, and you most certainly will fail from time to time. The goal isn’t to be perfect. It’s to muster up the courage to start trying things imperfectly. The key is to start small.
Word order matters in English. For instance, there is a world of difference between “one day” and “day one.” Some people live their whole life saying, “One day….”
“One day I’ll start exercising.”
“One day I’ll read that book.”
“One day I’ll clean the garage.”
If you live by the motto, “One day,” it’s likely you’ll never get around to doing important things. The good works that God calls you to each day are much more important than having a clean garage.
Even if you do eventually get around to following Jesus with everything, think of all the years of impact you will have wasted. Imagine you wait ten years to start making a difference for God. Ten years from now, you’ll largely be starting from ground zero.
“Even if you do eventually get around to following Jesus with everything, think of all the years of impact you will have wasted.”
We need to switch the word order to “day one.”
Make today your “day one.” Your impact may start small, but with God’s blessing, it won’t stay small. After all, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed (Matthew 13:31). If you start today, imagine what God could do in a decade. Plant enough seeds and eventually you’ll have a forest. The best part is that consistently following Jesus each day, starting today, enables you to see amazing fruit one day. It could happen like this:
- Talk to your friends about Jesus today. One day, they come to Christ.
- Pray for the lost today. One day, see revival.
- Donate toward missions today. One day, become a global missionary.
- Serve in church today. One day, plant a church.
- Raise awareness about injustice today. One day, start a nonprofit.
- Journal new ideas today. One day, write a book.
You’ll never see amazing impact one day without showing up on day one. The best thing you have going for you is time.
Today can be day one of the rest of your life. Are you ready to change the world?
Excerpted from Josh Branham, What Are You Waiting For?: A Young Leader’s Guide to Changing the World.
