28/07/2026
There was a time when I thought I saw things more clearly than those who came before me.
I noticed problems.
I questioned decisions.
I believed some things could be done better.
Sometimes I even wondered why older believers couldn't see what seemed so obvious to me.
I wasn't trying to be rebellious.
I simply believed I understood more than I actually did.
But time has a way of exposing what confidence often hides.
The things I thought others couldn't see...
they had already seen years before.
The difference wasn't intelligence.
It wasn't passion.
It wasn't who loved the Lord more.
They simply possessed something I had not yet learned.
Wisdom.
Not the kind found in books alone.
But the kind God patiently shapes through years of walking with Him.
Through victories and failures.
Through waiting and suffering.
Through correction, repentance, and countless reminders that His ways are higher than ours.
Our generation celebrates confidence.
Scripture celebrates humility.
And those two are not always the same.
One of the greatest dangers of youth is not a lack of ability.
It is believing ability no longer needs guidance.
Sometimes it sounds harmless.
"I know what I'm doing."
"Things are different now."
"They don't understand our generation."
"We already know that."
At first, those words sound like confidence.
But if left unchecked, confidence quietly becomes pride.
Pride resists correction.
Correction rejected becomes rebellion.
And rebellion rarely begins with loud defiance.
It often begins with a heart that simply stops listening.
The Bible never teaches young people to silence older generations.
Nor does it teach older generations to despise the young.
Instead, God designed His church so that one generation would help shape the next.
Peter writes,
"Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.'" (1 Peter 5:5)
Notice the command.
Peter doesn't say,
"Because older people are always right."
He points to humility.
Submission is never about worshiping people.
It is about trusting God's design.
This doesn't mean older believers are always right or that they never make mistakes. Scripture never teaches that.
Age alone is not our authority, God's Word is.
But God often uses years of faithfully walking with Him to produce wisdom that younger believers have not yet had time to gain.
That is why humility listens, tests everything by Scripture, and gladly learns from those God has been shaping longer than us.
Scripture also gives this responsibility to older believers.
Paul instructed older men and women to teach those who are younger (Titus 2:1–8).
Not to control them.
Not to suppress them.
But to lovingly help them grow in Christ.
The church was never meant to be divided into generations competing for influence.
It is one body under one Head, Jesus Christ.
Even Timothy, though young, was not independent.
Paul encouraged him,
"Let no one despise your youth."
(1 Timothy 4:12)
But Timothy wasn't told to reject counsel or distance himself from mature believers.
He remained under apostolic instruction, continually learning while faithfully serving.
Joshua learned under Moses before leading Israel.
Elisha served Elijah before becoming God's prophet.
The disciples followed Christ long before they were sent to shepherd His church.
God often prepares leaders by first teaching them how to follow.
That pattern has never changed.
Age alone does not guarantee wisdom.
Job reminds us,
"It is not only the old who are wise."
(Job 32:9)
Yet Scripture also teaches that spiritual discernment grows through maturity.
Hebrews says mature believers have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice (Hebrews 5:14).
Wisdom is not merely knowing what is true.
It is learning to apply God's truth after years of walking with Him.
That is something no shortcut can produce.
This is why young believers should never isolate themselves within their own circle.
Listening only to people your own age may feel comfortable.
But God never intended His people to mature apart from the rest of His body.
We need fathers and mothers in the faith.
We need correction.
We need encouragement.
We need examples of faithful endurance.
None of this diminishes the value of youth.
In fact, it protects it.
Because youthful passion without humility can become destructive.
But youthful passion shaped by God's wisdom becomes a tremendous blessing to the church.
One day, the Lord may entrust you with leadership.
He may call you to teach.
To shepherd.
To disciple others.
When that day comes, your greatest qualification will not be how confidently you spoke when you were young.
It will be how faithfully you listened while God was preparing you.
The world says the strength of youth is independence.
Scripture says its greatest strength is teachability.
Because the strongest young believer is not the one who refuses correction...
but the one humble enough to receive it.
The greatest strength of youth is not simply its energy, but the time God has given to grow. It is the opportunity to learn His Word, to receive wisdom from those He has placed before you, and to be shaped by both their faithfulness and their failures. There is no shame in not knowing everything. The truly wise are those who never outgrow a teachable heart. God has given you these years not to prove yourself, but to prepare you through humility, wisdom, and Christlikeness.
"The strength of youth is not found in proving yourself, but in being humble enough to learn from those God has been shaping before you."
What a Blessing It Is to Be Young.
~e e y n o n
