Leading Comes Later, After Loving Longer - 06
Young men must learn to love God through life.
A young Christian man can be on fire to serve the Lord. And we could all benefit to have more of such a hot desire. However, that young man must make his first priority to love God and not to lead others.
I say that because the young man does not know where he is going that others should follow him. His life is just beginning, you might say, and he may think he has answers for people, but his answers are limited for he has hardly carried life’s responsibilities or experienced its pains and joys. That is not his fault, obviously.
It is hard not to use the often quoted saying of heavy-weight champion Mike Tyson, “Everyone has a plan ‘till they get punched in the mouth.” And so it is with a younger man who aspires to be an elder. He may think he has learned a lot, and will always act faithfully, but then something terrible sends him reeling. Surely, we are not to expect so much from one so young.1
Aspiration2 to becoming an elder is a good thing, but it should serve to motivate long term planning. There is a lot of life in which to learn how to love God. And young men need to experience this life before they can expect to teach others how to live. A young man should practice his love to God everyday and in all life’s moments and then, later, he will serve Christ’s church well as an elder.
The Christian economist Gary North3 used the phrase, stick to your knitting. And that is my advice to younger men in the church. Stick to your knitting. If you do, you will become a terrific resource for those who need a shepherd.
I will have more on this in the upcoming Chapter called: On Aspiring. There will be a section called, The Unfair Expectations Put On A Younger Man.
Aspiration is a strong desire, longing, or aim.
Gary North had a significant impact on my life. He passed away on October 20, 2023. He wrote exhaustively on Christian living, economics, and the Christian’s duty in the culture. He authored or co-authored over fifty books. He also wrote and edited countless articles, position papers, and the like. You can get most all of the books he published for free at: https://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/sidefrm2.htm