A Call For Youth Commitment

Depending on your available technology you can draw a picture of of a head with the lights are on, but nobody’s home look on the board or use one from the Internet.

You have probably heard someone say or maybe you said it yourself, “Hey. I’m young! I have lots of time to live for God. I want to have fun and enjoy my youth.”

Ecclesiastes 11:8  But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity. 

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. 

12:1  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;

Put on board or screen.

Jesus Others You or Self Ambition Desires

If you pass up your opportunities to serve God and others, there will come a day when you will look back upon those and you will say you have no pleasure in them. You will not be happy with the way things went or why you did that. You will wish you could change that. You will not be able to change the past and what you did when you were young will affect your life when you are old. You will not have pleasure in the present and no hope of joy in the future. The guy who became paralyzed at 17 because he was drinking and driving is sorry at 25 buy will not be able to walk at 65. The girl who became pregnant at 15 or contracted HIV is sorry at 25 and may not be alive at 65. Is that the kind of situation you want to be in? There are many other cases we could discuss, but I think you have the idea.

But you say, “Man you forgot what it is like to be young! My buddies all agree on what we should do to have fun!” Read 1 Kings 12. A young man named Rehoboam listened to his peers instead of his father’s counselors. His father, Solomon, was considered the wisest man in all the world. People came from all over to hear his wisdom. Listening to his peers cost the son to lose ten of the twelve tribes leaving a very small kingdom. The old guys were right and he lived to see the days in which he had no pleasure at a very young age.

When you look back on your youth will those days bring you JOY or make you SAD? Live for God and others. You will be full of joy that lives forever!