A few years ago I was speaking out of town as a guest preacher. While I was there for that week, I met a young boy who made a great impression on me. He was probably eight years old, and was very enthusiastic about worship—especially song leading. As I was sitting alone on the front pew before worship began, he came up and sat next to me. He was talking to me about preaching and singing, and then he pointed to the list of song numbers on the wall that were going to be sung in worship. He said, “Do you know why there’s a blank spot between those numbers up there?” I said, “No, I don’t.” He said, “When it’s blank, we sing the song on the inside cover.” Although this tidbit of information may sound trivial to some, this young man was helping me to be better prepared to worship God. Not only was his enthusiasm for worship contagious, but he taught me something that helped me be prepared to worship with everyone else, and I thanked him for it.
Now, what if I would have had a bad attitude toward this young boy trying to teach me (a grown man) something? Would that not have been discouraging to him? It would have been utterly foolish of me to scoff at him for trying to teach me something new, as if I knew it all, being five times his age. However, I have often noticed that when I, as a younger man, have respectfully approached many who are older than me with sound advice or words from God that would save their souls, they have often scoffed at me, simply because I was younger than them. This has been disappointing and discouraging, just as it would have been to the young boy if my attitude had been sour toward him for his advice.
The young evangelist Timothy undoubtedly had to teach those older than him quite often, and the apostle Paul told him, “Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers…” (1 Tim. 4:12). It was also young David who had to teach the older generation of Israelites how to defeat Goliath through faith (1 Sam. 17). It was the little maid who, through faith in the power of God, advised mighty Naaman about healing his leprosy (2 Kings 5). Young people should always be respectful to those older than them, but that does not mean that the younger have nothing they can teach the older. Solomon wrote, “Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished” (Eccl. 4:13). We all need to beware of the selfish pride that would keep us from listening to good, sound advice that may come from those of any age! (Prov. 1:7; 5:12-13; 13:15; 15:5; 16:18; 18:12; 2 Kings 5:10-14; Acts 18:24-28).