Youth

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 6
 
The blessing of giving the Lord the best days.
“I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth." 1 Kings 18:1212And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth. (1 Kings 18:12). What a blessed statement of Obadiah's! The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and if we start our Christian life with this, our path will be a happy one in serving Him.
A dear brother once said to a group of young Christians: "You, dear young people, in all the freshness and bloom of youth, remind me of a very beautiful bouquet of flowers. Suppose you desire to present a very beautiful bouquet to a good friend. You purchase it, and it is so beautiful that you wish to keep it. But the third day you notice it is beginning to wither, and you hasten to give the faded bouquet to your friend. Do not treat the Lord this way. Give yourselves to Him while in your vigor and strength. Serve Him with your whole heart. Remember what He has done for you.”
Oh, how little do Christian young men and women appreciate the blessing of giving God their youth—their best days—the strongest and heartiest time of their short life. "In thy youth," give yourself to God for His service and honor. "In thy youth," be out and out for Christ, a good soldier for Him. Do not say in your heart, Why should I not enjoy the world and its joys as others do? Jesus, the Son of God beckons you to a nobler life; He calls you to self-sacrifice and devotion, in which you shall have joys beyond all that this poor world ever gave to its servants.
Dear young Christians, the truly happy life is the one that is given to the Lord. There are more joys found in the service of Christ than in all the pleasures of the world. We appeal to you now, in your youth, to devote yourselves to Him.