Hello, haven't updated this blog for a while. But glad to finally have the time to do so... :)
I accidentally thought about the above topic through the circumstances that I am in at the moment. I guess my Lord Jesus has been gracious to me ... Always at the right time he gave His Word when I need it ...
This topic (as most topic) has two sides of the coin.
- Young people thinks that they know better and thinks their older parents as old-fashioned
- Older generation don't want to listen to anybody even though they are clearly wrong
I always struggle about this myself. Just to give an example, my parents are not Christian and me being still relatively young (and dangerous ^o^) and claiming to 'know' the Word of God (even though I don't really know that much either) makes me reluctant to respect their advices and opinions. To be fair to myself, some of their advices really don't fit into what the bible says. Well, how did (should) I deal with the situation?
This is not just about my relationship with my parents. Sometimes at church I feel that I know better in terms of how to act, what to say than some of my older brothers/sisters in Christ. I don't deny that older men/women have a lot more experiences than me in life, but I can't help to feel that they need to behave to a higher level of Christian behaviors to gain respect from me ... Sinful am I not?
Recently I prayed about it while feeling pain and struggle inside me. My gracious God reminded me of
1 Timothy 4:12
12Don'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.
And then Paul continued with how Timothy should treat older generation
1 Timothy 5:1
1Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity
Thank God for His Word. I believe it is the Holy Spirit that reminded me how I should behave as young people. The Word of God commands again and again to respect our parents, even if they are in the wrong. There must be a reason for it and we young people need to trust that!!!
Rather than judging on how our parents/older generation should behave, we (young people) should SET AN EXAMPLE WHILE GIVING THEM RESPECT THAT THEY DESERVE. Easy? not really ... My human inclination is always to judge, fight back when I see something wrong ... Once or twice I can still accept it, but if I 'judge' that he/she doesn't repent from it and his/her heart is not aware that (s)he is wrong, I'll start thinking how and what to say if that person is doing it again (especially if (s)he is doing it to me). I am thinking to even use the Word of God to counter him/her if (s)he is a christian.... very ashamed of myself.
Here are some practical advise if such situation arise:
1. Pray to God and ask him for patience ... *Looking at Jesus usually helps*
2. NEVER talk back impolitely or losing yourself in front of them. *Shut our mouth (even though it hurts a lot) usually helps*
3. SET our hearts to be committed to be more godly and set good examples to them.
4. Talk to them at the later times about our feelings. *This is very important as I find it very useful to do this with my parents lately. It feels good when they finally understand how you feel. I find it useful for them to know my heart as a Christian, what my priorities are, how I treat God, how I treat them, my difficulties in communicating with my parents, my hope for our family, my prayer for them, etc. Sharing my feelings with parents (even though just for a few hours) has much much much larger impact rather than spending time with them without this quality time and sometimes this is not easy for guys*
I hope this entry can be a blessing to us all ... Until then!!
