Enjoy L ife while You are Young

Introduction

            Some people spend a whole lifetime trying to find fulfillment in life. Some have a lot and yet have nothing. We get so busy trying to make a living, and forget about making a life, a life that includes love for God and one another, a life to enjoy with family and friends to share with. Many people are trying to enjoy life apart from God and trying every possible way that they can imagine and still not finding any fulfillment.

             There was a young man who wrote; I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. He began his search and he experienced life under the sun and writes; I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. This young man was the king of Israel and one of the wisest men ever lived. God inspired this man to write three books that’s in the Bible, Proverbs, the Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes where we find our text. As we read through the pages of this book; we read about his search and experiences. We read;   For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

  2    a time to be born, and a time to die;

       a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

  3    a time to kill, and a time to heal;

       a time to break down, and a time to build up;

  4    a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

       a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

  5    a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

       a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

  6    a time to seek, and a time to lose;

       a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

  7    a time to tear, and a time to sew;

       a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

  8    a time to love, and a time to hate;

       a time for war, and a time for peace. [1]

As we get closer to the end of the book we find Solomon giving instructions to the youth and reminding the adults to “Enjoy life while they are young”. I believe that God doesn’t want us to shackle our young people with religion, but teach them that they are to enjoy their lives while serving God. As we consider the passage that we read, we want to point out three things that will help us to understand that God want us to begin to enjoy our lives early in life, “Rejoice, Remove, and Remember”.

Rejoice (11:7-9)

      What a joy it is to anticipate each new day and accept it as a fresh gift from God. We should never take each day for granted, but take advantage of the days of youth before “the days of darkness” would arrive. He was not suggesting that young people have no problems or that older people have no joys. He was simply making a generalization that youth is the time for enjoyment, before the problems of old age start to reveal themselves.

    Life is always challenging our youth because there are so many walks of life out there. And, our youth want to have fun and do what they feel in their hearts. Elsewhere Solomon had said that enjoying life consists of eating and drinking (2:24; 3:13; 8:15; 9:7), wearing nice clothes and pleasant lotions (9:8), enjoying marital bliss (9:9), and finding satisfaction in one’s work (5:18). Now Solomon encouraged his readers to do whatever their hearts desired (“follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes,” 11:9; nasb). [2]God want our young people to walk in the ways of their hearts as long as they include Him. The Bible teaches that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, (sick), who can understand it? It is God who search the heart and test the mind, to give man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds. To walk in the ways of your heart is not to go on a youthful fling and satisfy the sinful desires that flood your minds. It is rather a reminder for young people to enjoy the special pleasures that belong to youth that can never be experienced again quite the same way. Those of us who are older need to remember that God expects young people to act like young people. The tragedy is that there are too many older people trying to act like young people.

Remove ( vs. 10)

      Privileges must be balanced by personal responsibilities. Yes, you face challenges everyday and you have to make decisions about your life. Sometimes you make the wrong one and it causes you great pain and it not only affect you but also the people you love. There are some things we must let go and stop living miserable lives. Life is too short to let fear take hold of the youth instead of enjoying the pleasures of life that God have provided for the young people.

     The best way to have a happy adult life and a contended old age to get a good start early in life and avoid the things that will bring trouble later on. Young people who take care of their minds and their bodies, avoid the destructive sins of the flesh, and build good habits of health and holiness, have a better chance for happy adults years rather than those who are living, what they call good lives, with no order and discipline.

Remember (12:1)………………. Expound

Conclusion ( vs 13-14)

Luke 15: 11-24 The Prodigal Son        

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[1] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Ec 3:1–8). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

[2] Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (Ec 11:9–10). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.