Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Do you know what it feels like to be disqualified from something? You might have your heart set to do one thing, but someone says something that pulls you out of the race for some reason. Today's Scripture is an encouragement to you. It's a note from Paul to Timothy talking about how not to be discouraged.
It comes from 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 12. It says, "Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity."
Qualifiers We Hear
You might have heard this on the playground a couple of times: oh, you're too slow. You can't do that. Or you're just way too tall. You wouldn't be able to do that.
All of these qualifiers that people put on us, I think, are a means to help them feel better about where they are, or maybe what they don't understand. Maybe you've been in that position and you're trying to rationalize something that doesn't quite make sense, and you say, oh, that's way too hard. I can't do that.
These things keep us from stepping into what is right in front of us.
Paul's Encouragement to Timothy
Paul, presumably, is writing to Timothy, saying: "Don't let anyone think less of you because you're young," because people were thinking less of him. His age was what set him apart.
I think that's why Paul is encouraging him here. He's saying: People will think this way about you, but what if you were to prove them wrong? What if, instead of letting their thoughts of you dictate how you live your life, you stump them in their own beliefs and show them new ways of thinking?
Be an Example
He says: "Be an example to all of them in the way you act, the way you think, and your purity and your lifestyle choices. Be an example."
If you think about all the things surrounding you that may feel like limitations to you, and they're keeping you from stepping into what God has for you—I would pose this question: What if your differences are actually the things that God wants to use to make an impact bigger than you could imagine?
Your Differences Are Strengths
Think about this. All of the things that set you apart—the world would say you're different, you don't fit in. But those are the strengths that God has for you to use to make a difference in the world.
If everybody was exactly the same and fit a mold that was understandable to everyone, how would we have art? How would we have music? How would we have expressions of creativity?
God Created Diversity
If God wanted everyone to look the same, He would have created them to look the same. But He didn't.
If He wanted everyone to have the same experiences in life, He would have put them all in the same house with the same experiences back to back. But He didn't.
Why? Because He wants the world to be filled with diversity.
God's Kingdom Through Unique People
God brings His kingdom into the world through unique people.
You might be in a position right now where you feel disqualified because maybe you're telling yourself you can't do something. Someone's coming up to you and saying you can't do something. Or you hear the attack of the enemy on your life saying, you can't do this because of what you've done. You can't make an impact.
Live Into What God Says
I want to encourage you in the same way Paul encouraged Timothy: Don't just accept what people say about you because it sounds familiar. Go to what God says about you and live into that.
Watch how you change the world, simply by believing that God was intentional in how He created you.
