God Can Use You!

By Jerry Love

“Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” 1Timothy 4:12 (NIV)

In 1958, the Brazilian national soccer team won the World Cup of soccer largely due to the championship caliber play of one young man. This young man was competing in his first world cup and scored decisive goals in the final three games that gave the Brazilian team the World Cup. The young man’s name was Pele (pronounced pay-lay), who arguably is the greatest soccer player of all time. At the time of the 1958 World Cup, he was only 17 years old.

The coach obviously saw something in Pele that led him to believe that the young man could compete on soccer’s world stage. The coach could have relied on an older, more experienced player in such a situation but instead he saw that Pele was prepared for the task and put him in the game.

In 1 Timothy 4:12 we find a seasoned veteran of the early Christian Church named Paul exhorting and encouraging his younger colleague in ministry, Timothy. “Don’t let anyone put you down because you’re young,” Paul writes.

Paul saw that God had placed in Timothy capabilities of ministering to the church at Ephesus. Timothy was able to use these God-given qualities despite what some would see as a hindrance.

God has equipped each of us for service. God can use each of us to accomplish His will on earth no matter what limitation we put on ourselves or that others might place on us. Throughout scripture we find examples of God using those that others might have passed over:

  • Noah was over 500 years old when he built the ark.
  • David was the youngest and smallest of his brothers, but killed the giant Goliath, and was anointed King of Israel, and was known as a “man after God’s own heart.”
  • When God sent His son into the world, He entrusted Jesus to a young teenage Jewish girl named Mary.
  • When Jesus selected his disciples, he chose fishermen and tax collectors, not the religious leaders of the day.

God can use you. Be available to Him.