Ecclesiastes
11:9-12:1
(9) Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let
thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine
heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things
God will bring thee into judgment.
(10) Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and
put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.
(1) Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy
youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt
say, I have no pleasure in them;
(Four of my five children are 18-23 years old. A great age to be, and yet an age that must be approached with wisdom.)
We live in a culture which places great value on youth. This is a good thing, even the above
Scriptures place great value on how you use your youth. We live in a time in which the older spend
their time and energy trying to be young again.
They are constantly seeking the fountain of youth. A vast majority of advertising is done in the
name of regaining or maintaining youth. People seeking for their youth try
pills, exercises, creams and even surgeries, but the reality is there is no
such thing as a fountain of youth on this side of eternity. It does not matter how many pills, dyes,
surgeries, or the fact that you are president of the hair club for men, your
youth will vanish quickly. Therefore,
how you spend your youth is of great importance.
Your younger years are a great time: A time of promise, strength, boldness, and
excitement. If you use your youth wisely there is much you can accomplish with
purpose. In order to be successful there
are truths in the above Scriptures which will direct your paths. How you choose to spend your younger years,
the Lord leaves up to you. He will not
force you one way or another. He has
given you free will to choose your path.
The Lord makes it clear in verse nine the decision is up to you as to what
you do. Choose wisely!
4 Truths from the above text to help you make wise decisions
in your youth.
1
God wants you to enjoy your youth “Rejoice… in thy youth”
-
Do not be fooled by pleasure in sin. The
pleasure of sin will NEVER compare to the joy of the Lord.
-
Sin is deceitful – Many, “live for the weekend”,
and miss out on enjoying every moment of life.
-
Let me discuss some lies about joy in our
day:
o
It is sad today as it seems people associate
alcohol with a good time. The bondage
alcohol can produce is not worth the tradeoff.
I have counseled with people for years and witnessed the destruction of
alcohol. It leads to wives being beaten,
children being beaten, adultery, fighting, sickness, families in great despair
as a result of a drunk driver, etc.
These things are not the result of a true, “good time”, but of sin. Most today fail to see the Creator in this
life. They think the joy they have is a
result of the alcohol. It is not! The joy they have during these times is a
result of the God given relationships.
The fellowship of family and friends!
These are relationships God gives us to enjoy, the alcohol simply ruins
it, and many times just serves as a cover to greater problems.
o
There is no joy in failed relationships - People today are busy seeking their,
“perfect match”. Soon, they discover
the person they are with is very far from perfect and they move on to the next,
leaving behind pain, broken homes, guilt, despair, etc. The key is to wait for the person the Lord
has for you. This person will not be
perfect and will have faults. As you
draw close to the Lord, He will enable you to love them with grace even with
all their imperfections.
o
Joy is not based on your possessions or worldly success. You can have achieved great success in your
career and have all the money you need and yet be full of despair and
miserable. How many have thought this to
be the key only to be sadly disappointed when they arrived at this point.
o
The key to joy is found in the Creator. Therefore, the following truths the Lord
gives are not to take away joy, but to help you find true joy.
o
Also, do not fall into what I call the, “miserable
Christian syndrome”. There are some who
think you could not be right with God if you have joy! They could not be more wrong. They live to be miserable and want others to
be miserable and somehow think this is godly. You will burn out quickly with this attitude
and your life will be like an engine running with no oil. As verse 10 tells us, “Rejoice”! I am glad the Lord desires that my joy might be full! John 15:11.
2
Know God will judge you for your decisions and
actions – 11:9 The Lord makes clear, that whatever you
decide, He will judge you for it, so choose wisely!
-
I enjoy watching the Olympics; especially
gymnastics. The talent displayed from
the gymnast is incredible. They show
strength, courage, discipline, etc. Yet everything they do, every move they
make, is for the judges. They know they
are being looked at and judged and every move they make is important. They compete knowing they are being
judged. Everything they practice they
have the judges in mind as to what they might like. What will impress the judge? Well, we too have a judge for our life!
-
God is our judge! We need to see we are being judged for what
we do. This helps us stay on course, and
use our life with wisdom and not for vanity.
If you know there are consequences to your actions, you will respond
accordingly.
-
The Bible will show you what the Judge is
looking for. The Olympian gives his best
before the judges, so he might get a medal and prestige that will fade, but we
do it for an incorruptible crown. (I must
stress something here for those reading.
There are different judgments that will come. One is for the Christian and how he lived his
life for the Lord; I Corinthians 3. However, there is another judgment called the
Great White Throne Judgment; Revelation 20:12-15. You do not want to be present at this judgment.
Why? Because we all have sin and are
guilty before God. All those guilty are
cast into a lake of fire. The Lord God
has provided a way to avoid this judgment:
Because God loves us He sent His Son Jesus Christ to become a man. He became a man so that he could fulfill the
law, (live a sinless life). He is the
only one who could stand innocent at this judgment, but instead he took our
place. He took our guilt and punishment;
II Corinthians 5:21. When He went to the
cross, He suffered the judgment of God, that you might be saved. He died for you. However, because He was God, He defeated
death and rose again. We must repent and
place our faith solely in Jesus Christ for salvation. He is the way, the truth, and the life! If
you would like to know more, email me.)
3
Remove sorrow and put away evil 11:10
-
Make a conscious effort to remove sin. Don’t play with it, laugh at it, or ignore
it. It will destroy you and take over
your life. Whenever it begins to creep
in remove it! It is there to steal your
youth! The key to removing sorrow is to
put away evil.
4
Remember your Creator 12:1
-
Life is
not about you! It is about the Creator!
Focus on Him in your youth. You
will find you have a purpose. You are
not here because of some random act in the universe. This allows you to see the world in a
different light. You begin to live for a
purpose! A purpose to glorify the
Creator! Since there is a Creator there
are absolutes. There is a moral compass
to life that is not based on current trends or cultures, but on the Creator
Himself. This will help you to discern
what is right and wrong, in this ever confusing world. A world trying to determine morality apart
from a Creator. It will not work.
-
Don’t wait to serve God. Now is the time!
