I enjoy meeting people of all ages.
Sometimes in the course of conversation someone will ask me about my occupation.
When I tell them I’m a preacher, they usually ask me: “How long have you been preaching?”
Often, they are amazed when they find out I have been preaching since I was 19 years old.
The fact is, age doesn’t matter to God.
In 1 Timothy 4:12, the Apostle Paul wrote this encouraging word to his young protégé, Timothy: “Let no man despise your youth; but be an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, and in purity.”
God can use anyone at any age if they will simply follow Him.
Here are a few examples from history of how young people have influenced our world:
• Evangeline Booth preached her first sermon to a congregation of mops and brooms at age 5.
• Robert Louis Stevenson said, “Hush! I’m telling myself a story,” at age 6.
• Kit Carson was a dead shot with a rifle at age 8.
• James Talcott, eminent New York merchant, earned his first dollar in a business deal at age 10.
John Hays Hammond, famous engineer, was panning for gold in Nevada at age 11.
• John Paul Jones was a sailor at seventeen.
• Mozart reproduced and played the score of Allegri’s “Miserere” after hearing it once, at age 14.
• Hugo Grotius, father of international law, was a Latin scholar at 9, a university student at 12, a lawyer at 15, a historian at 20 and an international jurist at 21.
• McCormick invented the reaper at age 23-three.
• Sir Isaac Newton formulated the law of gravity at age 24.
• Charles Dickens began his “Pickwick Papers” at twenty-four and wrote “Oliver Twist” at 25.
• Benjamin Franklin wrote “Poor Richard’s Almanac” at 26.
• Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence at age 33.
As you can see, the only limitation we have is when we look at ourselves and say, “I’m too young… or I’m too old… or I’m not talented enough to make a difference.”
God uses senior citizens as well!
Moses was 80 years old before God appeared to him in the burning bush and called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
Abraham was 100 years old before his promised son, Isaac, was born.
After spending 120 years building an ark, Noah was 600 years old when the great flood came!
Stop putting limitations on yourself and go after your dreams.
After all, if age doesn’t limit God’s plans… it shouldn’t limit yours!

Rev. Doug Johnson is the senior pastor at Raven Assembly of God in Raven, Virginia.