It should interest you to know that the signs of youthfulness in our young men and women are similar to the behaviour of young men and women in Spirit or Christ. This is a brief highlight on some of the major behavioural tendencies of our youth or young men who range between the ages of 12 – 39yrs old. This will open your eyes to understand more about the “young men” in christ Paul mentioned in 1 John 2:14. Since there is a remarkable resemblance between the two ie. the natural youthfulness and spiritual youthfulness.
When you are a little child, you usually take what your parents tell you without any significant scrutiny. Because at that level your mental faculties are not developed enough to do any critical examination. In your spiritual growth, you also start by digesting the literal meaning of God’s word. Then you grow from a little child to become an adolescent or youth. This is where you are likely to feel you have also arrived.
At this stage, you want to express yourself and prove your worth and relevance in society.
There is a lot of peer pressure among the youth and they can be difficult to manage or control.
Their mental faculties have started developing. They are gaining awareness of themselves and their environment, so they don’t take things you tell them straight away like they used to when they were little children.
They now want to analyze what you say to see if it makes sense to them before accepting them. At this level, parents would have to be patient with them and try to explain certain things to them so that they can understand and follow.
They now have enough energy and desire to go out there and explore things for themselves. They love adventure and they also love to experiment.
Many become emotional, rebellious and hardly listen as well.
These are mostly the signs of youthfulness. Similar signs also occur in young men in the Spirit. So Paul, in his letter, addressed them based on their spiritual maturity and growth by saying: “I write to you, young men.”
Click here for a comprehensive discussion on the “young men” Paul mentioned in 1 John 2:14
