Jump Start # 3824
Ecclesiastes 12:1 “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no delight in them.’”
Here we are at the end of another school year. Graduation time. Some moving on to high school. Some heading off to college. Some are finished with school and are now looking for a real job. This is a busy time for many homes. It’s a lot of changing and transitions taking place. Moving on and moving out and mom and dad are left wondering how did it all go by so fast. That little baby now stands taller than you and spends more time with friends than at home.
Our verse today is a wonderful reminder of the roles mom and dads purposely fill in the lives of their children. There are a series of valuable lessons tucked into this verse.
First, Remembering your Creator. One can’t remember what has never been there. To remember your Creator means the young person has heard about his Creator. He’s been taught about the Creator. He’s read about his Creator. He knows and loves his Creator. There is a memory that he can recall. There are lessons that he remembers. Discussions at home. Reading his Bible. Listening to sermons. Sitting in Bible classes. Stored in that head are lessons and lessons about his wonderful Creator.
Remembering will help. Remembering will remind the young person that there is a God who sits upon the throne of life. There is a purpose and there is a hope, because there is a Creator.
Second, in the days of your youth. This is when the remembering takes place. It’s not at the end of life, when one is sitting in a rocking chair and just thinking. It’s while he is young. Young and busy, yet remembering. Young and a life filled with activities yet remembering. Remembering when he is young will help shape his choices. Will the course of study he pursues attack his faith in his Creator? Will there be a place for him to worship his Creator while he is at school? The person he dates, the person he marries, will they love his Creator as he does? Will they believe in a Creator? His choice of occupation will be shaped by his knowledge and love of his Creator.
Many a person gave no thought about the Creator when young. Choices and decisions were made based upon selfish feelings. A lot of mistakes were made. A lot of sins were committed. And, much later in life, there has been a trail of broken relationships that would never have been made had he only known and remembered his Creator.
Third, before evil days come. Evil comes. Evil has been around. We shelter our children from evil. We protect their innocence. Certain shows, certain people and certain activities were not allowed, because we did not want our children to be introduced to evil. But, eventually, they will see evil. They will see it in the work place, where lying, cheating and breaking rules are common. The good of humanity is sold for making more profit. They will see evil in people. Heartless people will try to take advantage of the good and honest. Mean words. Threats. Cruelty. Unforgiving. Selfishness. Sometimes seen even among brethren, evil finds a way into our world.
Remember your Creator before that. Knowing that God is good. Knowing that God wants good reminds us that not all is wicked. There is God.
Fourth, when you say, ‘I have no delight in them.’ Years of ignoring God. Years of selfishness. Years of being your own standard of right and wrong. Years of living without faith. All those years eventually catch up with a person. There is no interest in worshipping God. There is no understanding of the Bible. There is no concern for the soul. We’ll talk politics. We’ll take sports. We’ll talk about the economy. But, to have a deep spiritual discussion, ‘there is no delight in them.’ Stuck and stubborn in his ways, the ole’ fool will go to his grave, not knowing, not believing and not caring about God. He’ll want the preacher to preach him into Heaven at his funeral, but there is little hope for the person who has no delight in his Creator.
What happened? How did a person get that way? He failed to remember His creator in the days of his youth. His youth was filled with fun, self and doing what he wanted to do. And, his life was bent the same way. His choices, were based upon what he wanted. No interest in God when young and now no interest in God when old. He has lived a life without God, even though the Lord has showered blessings upon him often. He never thanked the Lord. He never thought they were from the Lord. Shallow. Empty. Materialistic. Focusing upon the here and now, such is the life that has no delight in his Creator.
It’s in the youth, that we need to get these things started. Start right and there is a good chance you’ll end right. Start wrong and you’ll likely end wrong.
It is graduation season and we have a Jump Start book for the graduate. Send me your MAILING ADDRESS (Rogshouse@aol.com) and we’ll get a copy to you for free.
Remember your Creator. What a difference that will make in your life.
Roger