Passage
These things command and teach:
These things command and teach:
1 Timothy 4:9 A faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
1 Timothy 4:10 For therefore we labour and are reviled, because we hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially of the faithful.
1 Timothy 4:11 These things command and teach:
1 Timothy 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth: but be thou an example of the faithful, in word, in conversation, in charity, in faith, in chastity.
1 Timothy 4:13 Till I come, attend unto reading, to exhortation and to doctrine.
The verse centers on "things", "command", and "teach". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "things" and "command", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 10's "For therefore we labour and are reviled..." into verse 12's "Let no man despise thy youth but...", so "things" and "command" belong inside that flow. In 1 Timothy context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "things" and "command" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.