Sunday's Scripture - 1 Timothy 4:12

In the past few months, I've found myself more and more needing a spiritual boost. I had a pretty sizeable meltdown a couple months ago, and I'm trying to work my way back to a strong spiritual base. It is a long slow battle, but I am confident that I will succeed. I am trying to make some positive changes in my life.

If you've been reading my blog recently, you know that I came back from a 2-month hiatus last week (You can read here about my return here.) One of the ideas I had for my blog was to do Sunday Sermons. As I sat in YW today, I thought perhaps I would change that to Sunday's Scripture. I thought it would be a little less preachy and a little easier for me to handle each week. I'd like to blog about a scripture that jumped out to me during a talk or lesson that day, so we'll see how this goes in future weeks. Sorry for the long explanation. It won't be like this every week. I promise.

Today our Young Women lesson was on Sharing the Gospel. We spent some time discussing:

1 Timothy 4:12

"Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."

Any Latter-Day Saint youth (or youth leader) probably recognizes this scripture as the mutual theme from 2009. I know that we discussed it at length at the beginning of last year in our ward. There are so many things that I love about this scripture.

First, being an example is a commandment. It is something that our Heavenly Father wants us to do, and there are so many ways that we can be good examples. Everything we say and do should reflect our belief in our Savior.

Another thing I like about this scripture is that it doesn't matter our age, we can all be examples. I learn a lot from our youth, and I hope that they learn from my example, too. When we are examples, people will take notice.

I love this scripture as it applies to missionary work. Often we thinking of sharing the gospel as something scary, but it doesn't need to be. One of the best ways to share the gospel is to live it. Be an example of it. This is often a stronger tool than preaching.

What are your thoughts about this scripture? What are some ways that you can be an example of the believers in your daily life? How have you been an example in the past?