The Responsibility of Christian Youth

What messages does the Bible have for the Christian Youth? Here are a few passages:

 "Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, And let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; Walk in the ways of your heart, And in the sight of your eyes; But know that for all these God will bring you into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, And put away evil from your flesh, For childhood and youth are vanity. Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, "I have no pleasure in them". [Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:1]

 "Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart."  [Second Corinthians 7:1]

"Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." [Second Timothy 2:22]

"I am today eighty years old. Can I discern between the good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear any longer the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be a further burden to my lord the king?" [Second Samuel 19:35]

Read the above passages again and ask yourself: What is the responsibility of the Christian Youth?

I will only add here that whereas man may regard you as a youth and perhaps assign less responsibility to you and may even excuse some of your actions as the exuberance of the youth, God sees you as an adult and you are responsible for all your actions. The only age classification before God is in terms of maturity – John in his Epistle gives them as:

• Little children, First John 2:12
• Fathers, verse 14 
• Young men, verse 14.

In summary, I leave you with the words of Paul in Philippians 4:8-9:

“For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honourable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things – fix your minds on them. Practice what you have learned and received and heard and the God of peace - of untroubled, undisturbed well being - will be with you.”