Your Youth Is Not a Waiting Room

The Bible does not define youth by a particular number of years. Instead, it presents youth as a stage of life marked by growth, physical strength, learning and the formation of character.

It is also a stage of life that is often underestimated.

Young people are sometimes made to feel that their most meaningful contribution to the world must wait until they are older, more experienced, more educated or more established. But Scripture tells a different story.

Some of the people God used to accomplish remarkable things were young when their stories began.

Samuel was still a boy when he heard the voice of God calling him in the night. Jeremiah was called by God to speak His Word to a nation while he was still conscious of his youth and inexperience. Mary was a young woman when she received the extraordinary news that she would bear the Son of God. Joseph was only seventeen when he was taken away from his family and began a journey that would eventually place him in a position to preserve many lives. The disciples also left behind their ordinary lives to follow Jesus and become His witnesses.

These were not people who waited until they had reached some imaginary age of usefulness. They made themselves available to God with the lives they had.

You are never too young or too old for God.

You Are God's Workmanship

This truth becomes even more personal when we consider what Paul writes:

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

-- Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV)

Notice the language Paul uses. We are God's workmanship. We have been created in Christ Jesus for good works. And those good works have been prepared beforehand for us to walk in.

That means your life is not an accident waiting to happen. There is something God desires to accomplish through your life.

Think of walking into an ancient library that has stood for generations. Among its countless books, you discover one containing a collection of tasks yet to be accomplished, opportunities yet to be embraced, and lives yet to be touched. Then you discover your name written on the cover. What would you feel?

Perhaps you would be overwhelmed by the thought that something meaningful had been entrusted to you.

Ephesians 2:10 gives us a reality even greater than that illustration. God has created you for good works that He prepared beforehand. Your life has purpose because the God who created you has purpose for you.

Your age does not cancel that purpose. Your background does not cancel it. Your past mistakes do not cancel it. And your present limitations do not cancel it.

The God who called Samuel, Jeremiah, Mary and Joseph is the same God we know today. He has not changed. For I am the LORD, I do not change (Malachi 3:6, NKJV). He is not partial towards one person over another (Acts 10:34), and He declares, Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh (Jeremiah 32:27, NKJV).

If God could work through people in generations past, He can work through you. But there is another question we must ask. What are you doing with the life He has given you?

Your Life Is Your Time

One of the clearest ways to understand how we are using our lives is to look at how we use our time. Every day, you receive twenty-four hours. What you call your life is, in many ways, the accumulation of how you spend those hours.

You may have great dreams for your future, but your future is being built with the hours you are spending today. This is why your youth matters.

Youth often comes with strength, energy, curiosity and opportunity. It is a season in which many patterns are formed, and many decisions are made. What you repeatedly give your attention to can eventually shape the person you become.

This does not mean that everything you do must be overtly religious. It means that your life should not be lived as though God has no purpose for it. There are countless ways to spend your time. Some are beneficial. Others may simply consume it. The question is not merely, Am I busy?

The better question is, Is what I am giving my time to helping me become the person God has called me to be?

Remember Your Creator Early

Solomon gives young people a remarkably direct instruction:

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 12:1 (NKJV)

There is something deeply instructive about the timing of this instruction.

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.

Do it now.

There is a temptation to postpone serious things. A young person may think, I have plenty of time. I will take God more seriously when I am older. I will become more disciplined later. I will pursue God's purpose when life settles down.

But Scripture warns us against building our lives around the assumption that later will always be available.

Solomon speaks of difficult days and the decline that accompanies old age. Physical strength does not remain forever. Opportunities change. Responsibilities increase. Time moves forward whether we are prepared for it or not.

The point is not that youth is the only season in which a person can serve God. It is not. God can use a person at any stage of life. The point is that you should not waste one season waiting for another.

If God can be honoured today, honour Him today. If you can serve today, serve today. If you can learn today, learn today. If you can develop your gifts today, develop them today. If you can make a difference in someone's life today, do it today.

While It Is Day

Jesus expressed a similar sense of urgency when He said:

I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.

-- John 9:4 (NKJV)

Jesus understood that His time on earth was purposeful. He was not merely passing through life waiting for something significant to happen. He knew what He had been sent to do, and He gave Himself to it.

There is a lesson here for us.

Time is a gift, but it is also a responsibility. We cannot store today's twenty-four hours and use them tomorrow. Once a day has passed, it cannot be recovered. We can learn from it, but we cannot relive it. This makes the question of how we spend our time much more important.

How much of your day is connected to God and His purposes for your life? How much of your attention is being given to things that build you? How much of your time is being invested in developing the gifts God has given you? How much of it is being spent serving others? And how much simply disappears into things that leave you no closer to becoming who God has called you to be?

These are not questions intended to produce guilt. They are questions intended to produce awareness.

Do a Personal Audit

Perhaps it is time for a simple audit of your life.

Look at an ordinary day. Consider how you spend your morning, afternoon and evening. Consider your phone usage, conversations, entertainment, studies, work, relationships, rest and private moments.

Then ask yourself: Where does God fit into all of this?

Not merely church attendance. Not merely the occasional prayer when you need something. Not merely a Bible verse you read when you are in trouble.

Where does God fit into the actual structure of your life?

If you discover that much of your time is disconnected from His purposes, do not despair. An audit is not meant to condemn you. It is meant to help you recognise what needs to change.

You can begin again. You can make different choices. You can give your time to things that matter. You can develop your gifts. You can serve. You can pray. You can study Scripture. You can encourage someone. You can learn a skill. You can pursue your calling. You can use your strength while you have it.

Your youth is not a waiting room where you sit until you become old enough for God to use you.

This is your life. This is your time. And God can use it now.

The same God who called the young Samuel, entrusted Mary with an extraordinary assignment and worked through Joseph's life is still God today. He has not changed.

You are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. So do not simply ask what you want to do with your youth. Ask what God wants to do through it.

And then look at your twenty-four hours. Because the way you spend your time is one of the clearest ways you reveal what you believe your life is for.