One thing that I’ve realized as I am ending my senior year is how important those Christians who are just a few years older than me are and have been in my walk with the Lord. I thank God for their example that they set for me. But more than that, I have a burden that this generation of youth will take an interest in those who are younger than them.
I think it is a temptation for people, especially youth, to think that since someone is younger than them by a few years, that it’s uncool to be with them. I know it’s a temptation for me at times. But I thank God that so many teens, who are now adults, overlooked the age difference and took time to invest in me.
I think generally youth look up to the youth who are older than them to determine what is cool and what is valued. This can have such a powerful effect on the lives of a youth.
When I was growing up (not yet a teen) I had thought that it simply wasn’t cool for kids who are older than me to play with me. But in came Brandon Wyzga, not just watching but playing games of tag, organizing the rules, making judgments fairly sometimes at a cost to himself. But stranger to me than the fact that he was playing the games was the fact that he seemed to be enjoying them and to love being with us. Now this was cool. I remember consciously thinking, “When I’m a teen, I want to be like Brandon. I don’t want to stop playing with 10-year olds just because I’m older.”
At the time, all Brandon had showed me was that being with teens is cool. But in hindsight, I think Brandon showed me what an effect an older youth can have on a younger youth. Now that I’m in a young church of my own, I am surrounded by kids much younger than myself. Many of these kids have thought that teens were all around mean people. When I play with these kids, I try to remember how Brandon played with me at that age so that I can follow his example and thus set an example for the kids I get to be with and play with.
When I had just entered high school, I wasn’t a Christian and I was thrown into a history co-op with some of my current best friends. Among these was Dan Calderone about one or two years older than me. I thought I was a Christian and therefore wanted to look like a Christian, but I still did not want to talk about God. But Dan made it clear that he loved to talk about God. I made it evident in my demeanor that I really wasn’t passionate about God at all. But Dan’s demeanor was ruled by a passion for God. He very often would ask me how my quiet times were, tell me about something cool he learned about God, or some way or another give glory to God with his conduct. He also demonstrated a love for his parents and his eagerness to learn from their wisdom. He so evidently displayed the work of the Holy Spirit that I started to wonder what was so different about him than me. The summer after that school year, I was saved largely as a result of his example.
In hindsight, I see that Dan Calderone emulated Christ to me. Because he was older than me, he merited a position of influence in my life and he was able to influence me toward God or away from God. I thank God that Dan took interest in my soul and that he emulated living life to the glory of God despite my spiritual dryness. I try to emulate Dan when I interact with the youth who don’t appear to be living life to God’s glory. Maybe God will use me in their lives the way He used Dan in mine.
All this to say, I believe that God has given us a portion of influence in the lives of the younger youth. And like any measure of influence comes a measure of responsibility. We can abuse it by not using it at all. We can teach those younger than us to follow the ways of the world. Or like Brandon and Dan, we can steward this influence to God’s glory and show those younger than us something about God.
