Grace for Your Day November 22

The story is told of the time a teenage boy asked his father to drive his car. The father said that he could do so as soon as he cut his hair to which the boy responded, “But Jesus had long hair.” The boy thought that he had won the argument so he started to leave the room until his father said, “Yes but Jesus walked everywhere he went too.”

The point is that young people can do silly things from time-to-time. They can behave in ways that do not make sense to older people. A parenting website recently listed several odd behaviors that teenagers do and it included things like:Interestingly enough, this is something that Solomon addresses in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Since he was an old man when he wrote this, the follies of youth probably surprised him as well so he penned these words in 11:9:
Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of your manhood. And follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes. Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for these things.

This is a surprising thing to read because, so far, Solomon has been grieving over the vanity of life. He has been mourning over the fact that this world can seem so meaningless at times but his point here is that you can still enjoy it if you choose to follow God. You can still live life to the fullest in your youth if you do not forget Who He is. God is the judge of the world and He will call you to account for your behavior so you need to keep that in mind as verse 10 says:
So, remove grief and anger from your heart and put away pain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting.

Solomon now repeats the same thing from another angle because he says that time waits for no man. Life passes by in an instant and, because of that, you need to put away sin early. You do not need to wait until later before you follow God because this life will be gone before you know it. It is a fleeting thing which is what we are going to talk about this week at Grace Fellowship Church.

This Sunday, we are going to continue our studies in the Book of Ecclesiastes by looking at the subject of youth. This is an important topic to consider because so many people fail to appreciate what a treasure it is because they blow it on sin. They waste their early days in riotous living but the Bible says that it is a mistake. You do not want to throw your youth away because it is a gift from God so you need to use it wisely. Take all the extra energy that comes with the teenage years and pour them into Christ because you will never regret it. It will keep you from getting swept away in all the vanity and emptiness of this world.

As one poet put it,
Only one life will soon be past,
Only what is done for Christ will last.

Solomon repeats the same thing here in this fascinating portion of Scripture so please join us as we talk about that together. The service will begin at 9:30 and it will be livestreamed on our You Tube Channel for all who are not able to make it. - Jeremy Cagle