The
Permanency of youth
Harold Carswell, Jr.
This article is about young who are
accountable for their actions.
Youth can be a wonderful time of
discovery. Good as well as bad things can occur during these years which can
have lasting effects as well as everlasting effects. There are still things
from my youth that I wish would have never have happened and some things that I
am glad did happen. We must however be mindful of the fact that youthfulness
can be very deceptive...
Youth can cloud our standard of time. Young people are often told that they have their whole lifetime
to make advances to maturity or to fulfill desired accomplishments. However how
many older people look back at the former years and don’t know where the time
went. The Scriptures teach us that we must not be deceived by the probability
of time. First of all, time is not a guarantee for anyone. We don’t hold time
in our hands and control it according to our plans. Life is not as long as one
may think.
“Whereas you do not know what will happen
tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little
time and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14)
You see life is neither long nor
guaranteed. This is an important truth to posses, for the simple reason that we
must utilize that time that we have. Christians hopefully understand that there
is no time to waste in service to the Lord. We cannot afford to be deceived by
the prospect of time. We are to utilize our time wisely by “taking, possessing, and laying hold of
the time that we have to serve God. There is no time for foolishness and folly,
our time must be redeemed (Eph 5:15-19). We cannot afford to waste our
time in wantonness and excess, thinking we have time to get serious later (Romans
13:10-14). Perhaps our view of time is not from a Biblical perspective. How
many times do the Scriptures remind us of how man’s perception of time is not
that of God (Psalms 90:10; 2 Peter 3:8). The Psalmist (Moses) teaches
that time must be spent serving the Lord and not ourselves (Psalm 90:1-12).
“So teach us to number our days, that we
may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)
Young people must not let youth cloud their
discernment of time and older Christians must stop giving them the impression
that the have all the time in the world to get serious about God. By the way,
how much time is all the time in the world?
Youth also distorts ones concept of
accountability. Now we all understand I’m sure that with maturity comes accountability.
The older we get the more accountable we become. This is understood not only
from a Biblical standpoint but also from a secular one as well. It is because
of this, that there are juvenile courts and adult courts in our country.
However it must also be understood, that as spiritual growth and maturity
develops so does ones spiritual accountability. No matter what level of
spiritual maturity a person finds themselves, accountability is required at
that level. It is my belief that youthfulness is passed of as an excuse for
unaccountability as well as irresponsibility. Parents are especially guilty of
this as they make excuses for their children based on their age and/or level of
maturity. It is interesting to note that these excuses can go even into
youthful adulthood as if young Christians have no sin or are incapable of
committing sin because they are young.
When did the expectations for faithfulness
change? There are several examples of youthful faithfulness in the pages of
truth. Great courage, dedication, and zeal have been revealed by God of
faithful young people, Joseph, David, Daniel, and Timothy, just to name a
few. Young people should be expected to be faithful and faithfulness is to be
required of them. So many parents have forgotten the fact that youth is not and
excuse for unfaithfulness! They make excuses for their own children and do not
take the necessary actions when their children are in sin and simply making
unwise and unsound decisions. Eli was one who did not take the necessary
actions regarding his children which cost them not only their lives and souls
but also caused the children of Israel to sin as well as, causing dishonor to
the holy name of God (1 Samuel 2:12-25). Youth does not give one a
license to sin. As older Christians we should not only require faithfulness of
our young brothers and sisters but also help guide them in making sound
decisions that are conducive to their spiritual well being and growth! Solomon
tells us that young people will be held accountable for the decisions that they
make in life...
“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.” (Ecclesiastes 11:9)
Youth is time for serving God and not a
time to enjoy the fruits of sin or folly. There will come a time when ones
ability to serve God will be limited and full of obstacles and that youth is
the opportune time for service to God (Ecclesiastes 12:1-7). Of course,
this is not to say that service in our older years is not demanded nor
beneficial (Titus 2:1-5) but it is saying that youth is invaluable. We
must all remember what this life is all about...
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole
matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether
it be good, or whether it be evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14) \
Decisions made in youth can have lasting
and everlasting rewards or consequences! Via
~In Sunday Bulletin,
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