There is a verse in the bible that a friend, an older man, said to me trying to get me to be quiet and listen to him, to agree with him. It was 1 Peter 5:5, “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder….”
Unfortunately he stopped there. He didn’t continue with the rest of the verse, “…Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”
I do believe that there doesn’t seem to be enough respect of the generations. That is everywhere, not just in the Christian community. But something I notice is that older Christian men are less humble than they ought to be.
They try to tell younger me what to do and what to think and expect them to do it or think just because they are younger and should listen to their elders. But at the same time they miss the opportunity to be examples of true humility and listen to the younger men, to hear what they have to say.
And if correction isn’t necessary then don’t correct.
We are the ultimate in the “Last word battle”. No one ever wants to say, “By golly, I think you’ve got it.”
These preconceived ideas that the younger men have about older men feeling superior to them makes them feel as though they shouldn't give them the time of day. At the same time the older men believe that they know more because they are older, and they think that the younger men couldn’t possibly know what’s going on because they are younger.
And you know what really gets me is that every Christian seems to know that these things are wrong and will adamantly deny doing them but are so guilty of it.
I know I am.
I can be very condescending at times and Lord knows there are times when I won’t agree with you to your face though in private I couldn’t agree more.
We might remember that we are Brothers in Christ... but we forget that there is no order in the family of God, for we are all joint heirs with Christ.
We all have the same Father.
SDG
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