Remember

Ecc 12:1 "Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, 'I have no pleasure in them'." ESV

 

Someone once said that "Youth is wasted on the young.". What does that mean exactly? I think when you are young you can have a tendency to be carefree, thoughtless, even sometimes reckless. When you are young you think that you are invincible…that nothing can take you down. As you get older, you learn, you grow, you gain insight, and that insight leads to right decision making. Maybe the better statement would be "Age is wasted on the old". It just seems kind of backward.

 

Wouldn't it be cool if you could have the insight and wisdom that you obtain in old age when you are young? Dumb decisions could be avoided. Stupid stunts could be averted. Future consequences would be eliminated. Yet, it seems that when we are young we like to "sow our wild oats" only to see later that those oats grow up to be weeds.

 

This is why Solomon implores the young to remember their Creator when they are young. As a younger individual it is huge when you keep God in the front of your brain. Why? Because even as a young adult you are living in the light of eternity. You know that you want to do one thing your entire life and that is to bring glory to God. When this is the focus of the youth, everything else in their lives falls into place. It is promised that when we seek His kingdom and His righteousness first (remember our Creator), everything else will come (as we get older).

 

This, however, does not eliminate the need to remember our Creator when we get older. It is kind of interesting, as you get older you start to consider your own mortality. You realize that your eyes are dimming, your body is not working quite like used to, your hearing fades, and more. (See verses 2-7.) As you consider your mortality you have a tendency to start thinking about eternity…you start to consider God. For some, it is too little too late. It doesn't have to be. Wake up now…whether you are young or old.

 

Always remember, bring to mind, keep in the front of my brain who God is…my powerful Creator…and who I am…the dependent created.