Rejoice, Remove, Remember

Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; Ecclesiastes 11;9-10, Ecc 12;1 

To the youth standing at the threshold of your years hear this not as a warning to dim your joy, but as truth meant to anchor it.

Rejoice in your youth. Let your heart be glad in these strong, swift days. Walk in the way your heart inclines, see what your eyes long to see but know this: every choice you make in secret, every desire you indulge in the dark, every careless hour you spend convinced no one is watching all of it is seen. For God shall bring you, and every man, into judgment. Nothing is hidden from Him. The freedom of youth is real, but it is not unaccountable. You are not flying beneath anyone's radar. You are living before the eyes of the One who made you.

So remove from your heart what cannot stand in that light. Remove the bitterness, the secret sin, the appetite you've told yourself is harmless. Remove the lie that says judgment is far off and youth is exempt. It is not. The grave does not check ID, and the throne of God does not wait for gray hair. Whatever you plant now, you will answer for and you will also reap.

Therefore remember your Creator in the days of your youth not in the leftover years, not when pleasure has dried up and the body has grown tired of sinning, but now, while your strength is still yours to offer and not merely yours to spend. Remember Him before the evil days come, before the years arrive that you will call empty, before the lamp grows dim and the questions you postponed finally demand an answer.

This is not a call to fear joy it is a call to root your joy in the right place. Rejoice, but rejoice as one who knows he will give an account. Remove what judgment will expose. Remember the One before whom you will stand, while you still have the days to remember Him well.

Youth is not a season exempt from eternity. It is the first and best chance to prepare for it.

To the youth standing at the threshold of your years this is your season to live wide awake.

Rejoice. Let your heart find gladness in the strength of these days, the laughter that comes easy, the dreams that still feel possible. Joy is not the enemy of wisdom; it is the soil where wisdom grows. Don't apologize for your youth. Don't rush past it pretending to be older than you are. Sing while the song is yours to sing.

But rejoice with open eyes. Remove from your heart what doesn't belong there the bitterness that curdles into pride, the small angers you nurse like pets, the appetites that promise everything and deliver emptiness. Remove what dulls your conscience and clouds your sight. Youth burns fast, and what you feed it now becomes the person you wake up as later. Guard your heart not because joy is dangerous, but because an unguarded heart loses the capacity for real joy.

And remember before the years grow heavy, before the body that once felt invincible starts to ache, before the questions of meaning arrive uninvited at 2 a.m. remember your Creator now. Not as an old man's afterthought, but as a young man's foundation. Not as a debt paid late, but as a love returned early. The God who made you is not waiting at the end of your story to collect what's left. He's here at the beginning, asking to walk the whole road with you.

Rejoice, because life is a gift, not a sentence.

Remove, because freedom requires letting go of what enslaves.

Remember, because the years that look endless now are not.

This is youth rightly lived: joyful, clean-hearted, and anchored not in fear of running out of time, but in the quiet confidence of knowing whose hands hold it.