Just over a year ago in Prince George, a state of emergency was declared after a huge fire broke out in the industrial site just south of the city. As a captain in the Prince George Fire Department, my uncle was in the heart of it all as the chaos lasted about 3 days straight. There were many heroes during those days, but a story involving my uncle stuck out to me.
While in one of the massive buildings on fire, my uncle and 2 other firefighters were assessing the situation. He climbed up onto a pile of wood to look down the length of the building and he saw something that immediately caused him to shout to the others to run out of the building.
The other 2 firefighters just stood there for a while looking at the same thing but not noticing anything particularly dangerous about it. My uncle doesn’t get excited to easily but he was raising his voice more and more – eventually the first fighter listened and ran out of the building. The other one was still wondering why my uncle was so excited – finally after another bellow from my uncle the second firefighter realized he meant business and the 2 fled the structure.
The message to evacuate was relayed to the chief who in turn called another group of men off the roof of the same building. Within seconds of their retreat, a massive burst of flame coursed through out the building destroying everything in its wake…. My uncle had literally just saved lives.
So what did he see? And how did he know what it meant?
Well what he saw doesn’t mean much to me – but he said the way the smoke was looking immediately brought to mind a similar situation 25 years earlier at a fire at the Prince George Jail. He knew that back then this forming of the smoke was a forewarning of a terrible blast of flame to come. Because of this experience He was able to save lives that night a year ago. He was later honoured for this effort.
The lesson that I get out of this is the lesson of experience. I don’t mean the type of experience as in an “emotional event” but rather that type of experience that is earned through being weathered by the years of this life. Now I readily concede that wisdom does not necessarily come with experience or age but we would do well to at least hear what the voice of experience in our life is saying.
Some young Christians ( and some older ones for that matter) are under the impression that they know everything there is to know about the Christian life. They have arrived. They have figured it all out .
Wow I’m sounding so old right now.
But how do I know this? I was one of these young Christians. Now “young” is relative therefore I am still young to many and I acknowledge that ( in fact I’m glad of that – 31 feels old enough) . I only speak from what I have learned up to this point. When I was in my early twenties I became very extreme in my behaviour and attitude about Christianity. Some times “extreme” can be good. You can be “extremely” in love with the Lord Jesus for example, however all too often the word “extreme” has been abused by those who have their own agenda.
Being extreme in your late teens, early twenties is not uncommon. I have actually entitled it..
“Young Man’s Disease”
... not to take away anything from the ladies but they often tend to have more sense than us men. When do you know that your version of “extreme” has gone wrong? Well, for example, I used to believe the word “ balance” was an excuse for being weak and lazy. In the back of my mind, I thought of people who weren’t as “extreme” in their Christianity as me, simply were not as good of Christians .
That is a dangerous thought folks. Be very aware of this attitude in your life as it can destroy you. While I may have even been right about some people needing to get their act together, that wasn’t the point. I learned 2 things from all of this:
1) To my great detriment ( and to the detriment of others I loved) I ignored very sound advice from people who had been down the road I was, at the time ,travelling ( just as the other 2 firefighters would have suffered detriment if they had not listed to the sound advice of my uncle)
2) Whether I was right or not about people was irrelevant in regards to my attitude towards people and God .God looks on the heart and the fact was, my heart was full of pride.
In Psalm 138 David declares “Though the LORD is on high, Yet He regards the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar.” Verse 6. James reiterates in the New Testament that God “resists” the proud but gives grace to the humble ( James 4:6).
Young people and all people, lets examine our hearts to see if they are full of pride disguised as zealousness.
Even Plato noticed this principle when he said “You are young, my son, and, as the years go by, time will change and even reverse many of your present opinions. Refrain therefore awhile from setting yourself up as a judge of the highest matters.”
Of course all this is said with the realization that the essential doctrines of Scipture do not change ( nor should we then change our opinions on these). There is also the fact, as I mentioned before, that wisdom does not necessarily come with age. If an older person is guiding you away from what the Bible **clearly** ( emphasis on the “clearly”) teaches then you must not take their advice but rather God’s.
Nor should we follow one person’s line of thinking alone (i.e. defining oneself as a "Calvinist rather than a Christian) for
“ Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” Proverbs 11:14
Please be wise enough to know the difference and humble enough to learn from the experience of others. And remember – it is not just about our knowledge – it is about our attitude. If we are not having unconditional love toward others ( whether you agree with them or not) then we need to work on that.
Its often said that knowledge is much more helpful when combined with wisdom, for wisdom is the proper application of that knowledge.
So if some older believers have been giving you some advice lately , don’t reject it – humbly and prayerfully consider it, realizing you don’t know it all.
Not yet anyways… maybe when your 31 … ;)
