”No one the youthfulness of you let them be despising, but rather constantly be an example of the faithfuls in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”
-In Timothy’s day, wisdom was the purview of the aged. Time and experience and accumulated gray hair allowed you to accrue the kind of status which garnered respect from your village and earned you a seat at whatever table they sat at, playing chess or backgammon and sipping mint juleps. Or whatever sage beverage befit their station. An elder. Definitely someone older. Those were the guys you listened to. They had been around the block a few times. They could tell you what time it was without even looking at their sundial. And you wouldn’t be as inclined to listen to a guy like Timothy, cuz he simply hadn’t been around the block long enough to accrue the requisite knowledge and wisdom about life and truth. A youth. Even a young man. You definitely didn’t give them the time of day until they were at least thirty, and even then they definitely still didn’t get a seat at the table.
-Fast forward to the present. In our day, things have changed. The progress of civilization. Or has it? You can go to college, yes (even do so from your home, online)(women, too!)! You can go to graduate school and get a doctorate before you’ve lost much of your peach fuzz or even had kids. But now you’re an “expert”. Lots of head knowledge, no doubt. Definitely more driven by numbers. Hopefully not too puffed up...? Used to be the youngers sat at the kid's table - now they're the elders and the olders, the silver-hairs have to find their own table. Usually in a room or a home where they can relive their glory years without slowing down progress. Put out to pasture - or they put themselves out there early (the beautiful kind covered with lots of short green grass and 18 holes)(and they don’t seem to mind too much). But too often they’re behind the times. Slow adapters. Old dogs, past their prime. Anymore, it’s almost as if we need to be told not to look down on someone’s agedness.
-But irrespective of age, Paul’s advice to Timothy here is spot on: back it up. Not as in the clock, but rather, back up your talk with a walk. Word AND deed. Exemplary. Constantly, always be an example of someone who walks the talk. God has put you where you are for such a time as this, so look to yourself, and make sure that your life lines up with what you believe and say, regardless of whether you are seventeen or seventy. Regardless of what table He might allow you to sit at. And on top of that, all that we do and say is to be colored by love and faith and purity. Words and deeds of love, which bless and build up. Words and deeds of faith, of trust in the Lord and in His sovereignty and breathtaking goodness. Words and deeds which are pure and clean and free from any worldly or selfish filth. And Paul uses the genitive - he is most likely thinking not of those who will see Timothy’s example, he is thinking of the quality of Timothy’s example. An example OF those who are faithful, as opposed to an example TO the faithful. In other words, don’t get caught up in your audience and how they see you. Just focus on always being exemplary, a beautiful example of a believer, of someone who truly follows Jesus, wherever you go. Back it up.
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