Set an example

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set and example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity." (1Timothy 4.12)
This verse was a great encouragement when I first started in the pastoral ministry. I encountered many people who could not believe someone my age could be a minister. When I told one person that I would be the pastor of two churches, she kept asking over and over, "you mean you're going to be the youth pastor?" (I suppose they must have had an image in their minds of someone with gray hair and a dark suit.)
The experience taught me that some people are always making judgments of you because of external things.
Paul, in his advice to the young preacher, Timothy, encourages him. He too was young for a preacher of the gospel. He too probably faced people who could not imagine him in the role of pastor. But Paul told him not to worry about people's preconceived ideas, but to simply "set and example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity."
You may be young, old, or someone in the middle. But no matter what station in life you are, you can be an example to others in your speech, life, love, faith, and purity. Indeed, the world needs people at all stages and walks of life, all races, all types of occupations, all styles to be true witnesses to Jesus in the way that they live.
I encourage you today: don't worry about judgments people make about you because of the "externals," just follow Jesus each day and your life will speak for itself!