Daily Reading for Sunday, November 10, 2024
Scripture: 1 Timothy 5:1, 2
"Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity."
Meditation:
Reference(s):
1 My Life Today, p. 279.
"We have in our ranks too many who are restless, talkative, self-commending, and who take the liberty to put themselves forward, having no reverence for age, experience, or office. The church is suffering today for help of an opposite character--modest, quiet, God-fearing men, who will bear disagreeable burdens when laid upon them, not for the name, but to render service to their Master, who died for them. Persons of this character do not think it detracts from their dignity to rise up before the ancient and to treat gray hairs with respect. . . .
"God has especially enjoined tender respect toward the aged. He says, 'The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness' (Proverbs 16:31). It tells of battles fought, and victories gained; of burdens borne, and temptations resisted. It tells of weary feet nearing their rest, of places soon to be vacant. Help the children to think of this, and they will smooth the path of the aged by their courtesy and respect and will bring grace and beauty into their young lives as they heed the command to 'rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man' (Leviticus 19:32)."1