Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers... (1 Timothy 5:1)

    A young man who was an avid golfer found himself with a few hours to spare one afternoon. He figured if he hurried and played very fast, he could get in 9 holes before he had to head home. Just as he was about to tee off, an old gentleman shuffled onto the tee and asked if he could accompany the young man as he was golfing alone. Not being able to say no, he allowed the old gent to join him. To his surprise the old man played fairly quickly. He didn’t hit the ball far, but plodded along consistently and didn’t waste much time.

    Finally, they reached the 9th fairway and the young man found himself with a tough shot. There was a large pine tree right in front of his ball — and directly between his ball and the green. After several minutes of debating how to hit the shot the old man finally said, “You know, when I was your age I’d hit the ball right over that tree.”

    With that challenge placed before him, the youngster swung hard, hit the ball up, right smack into the top of the tree trunk and it thudded back on the ground not a foot from where it had originally lay.

“Of course, when I was your age...”

    The old man offered one more comment, “Of course, when I was your age, that pine tree was only 3 feet tall.”

    There are a lot of things that we could do when we were younger that, for whatever reason, we may not be able to do now. But then again, there are some things we can do now that we couldn’t do when we were younger.

The glory of young men is their strength, and the splendor of old men is their gray head. (Proverbs 20:29)

    Those who are younger should use their strength and enthusiasm to serve God, while those who are older should make use of their experience and wisdom. Together, what a great team they make!

I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. (1 John 2:14)

© 2001, Alan Smith. Used by permission. This devotional was reprinted from “Thought for the Day.” To subscribe directly to TFTD, send a blank message to join-thought-for-the-day@xc.org.

Title: "When I Was Your Age..."
Author: Alan Smith
Publication Date: June 26, 2001

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