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Youth
April 21, 2012

Sometimes you will hear older people say that youth is wasted on the young. And while this may be hard to understand by those who are younger, what the older people are trying to get across is that if they were young again, they would be able to use their life experiences to have a better life. The Bible shows that there is nothing wrong in being young or old as long as we obey God and are true to his calling. There are many different verses that show the difference between youn and old that we can apply in our lives today.

Proverbs 20:29
The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head.

This proverb shows something you probably see at every major sporting event. It is those who are young that are the athletes. The older people are either spectators or coaches, but the older people probably are not the athletes. One thing that younger people have a harder time to understand is that as a person's body ages, the body wears out. That's how it is supposed to be. Most people live to be in their seventies or eighties. A few live into their nineties, and even fewer live past one hundred. And as we get older, our body doesn't work like it used to work. The next time you drive by a construction site, look at who is doing the work, the hard work. It probably is somebody who is still younger rather than older. You probably will not see a person who is very old roofing a house. Most older people have bodies that can no longer do this. On the other hand, this proverb shows that what sets an older person apart is their gray hair. Gray hair is something that many try to hide with hair dye and traditionally, gray hair is what has identified a person as being wise. Take a look at all the wise people portrayed in movies or on television. Most are older people with gray hair or middle age people with hair that is starting to gray. Sadly, there are old people who are just as foolish as they were when they were younger, and there are many young people who are very wise. Most younger people are considered to be great because of their physical ability, and most older people are considered to be great because of their wisdom.

Psalm 127:1-5
Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep. Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

There are many studies that show that if you graduate from high school, get a job, and then get married and have children, and in that order, that your chance of living in poverty gets reduced to such a little number that when you do all of these things in the correct order, should you live in poverty as an adult, it probably is more a result of bad luck than bad choices on your part. The Bible is very positve about children, and there are times for children to lsiten to parents, especially when they are younger, and there are times later in life, when the children may have to defend their parents from people who will try to take things away from their parents. If you listen to the news, you will hear several times through the year of different kinds of scams where people try to rip off older people, and this is just wrong. As a child, one of the very good things you can do when you are older is to make sure your parents are not ripped off by scam artists. Sometimes the older you get, the harder it is to think clearly, and it is at these times that children can help their parents by defending them from those who would want to rip them off. But this is not the reason parents have children. Parents have children because children make adults happy. It gives adults a sense of purpose beyond just themselves, and it brings a lot of happiness to parents when they see their children doing great things in school and the neighborhood.

1 Timothy 4:12
Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

There are some older people who think all younger people are stupid. What these people forget is that sometimes the best ideas come from those who are younger, and it is also fair to say that sometimes the best ideas comes from those who are older. Age should not matter when it comes to spiritual matters and obedience to God. What is important at all times in our life including when we are young (or old, or middle age) is that we area good example of what a believer should be. We should be careful with the words we use, because words do matter. Nobody really likes to be hurt with words. We need to be giving and not just taking, and we need to remember that though we live a physical life and one day our body will break down, that our lives are to be spiritual in nature, that we are to live life based on faith, and that we need to be pure, true to ourselves, true to others, and true to God. We should never do anything to deceive ourselves and others, and we need to be careful that others will not deceive us.

All verses are from the King James Version.
This site provided by Tom Laign. To all who may believe differently, I also extend peace and love.
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