PODCAST
A Young Man
May 3rd, 2010
Youth are more prone to act from passion than from reason. Guarding the clothes of the stone-throwers was Saul’s way of approving the death of Stephen. Reason would have told Saul that the trial had been a farce and the accused was innocent. Saul’s passion, however, turned Stephen into a renegade. Passion was the only voice Saul heard.
Youth explains the override of reason, but it doesn’t excuse sin. When Jeremiah tried to dodge the responsibility of being a prophet by pleading his youth, God rejected his excuse. Youth does not justify sin or exempt from service. Scripture tells us to remember our Creator in our youth.
For the rest of his life, Saul would see upon the screen of his mind the face of a man who had seen the face of Jesus. The sins of our youth shape the memories that will haunt us in our older years. Stephen’s death was a triumph. Saul’s complicity in that death was a tragedy. His example tells us to avoid doing today what we will regret tomorrow.
