Written by Paul Washer
Knowing something of the brevity of life, “How then shall we live?” The writer of Ecclesiastes answers this question for us in the form of a command:
“Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth...” (12:1).
The word “remember” comes from the Hebrew word zakar which means to recall or call to mind. This command to remember God is calling you to more than a casual recollection that there is a God. Its requirements are not fulfilled by simply bowing your head every time you pass by a steeple, or even by attending church faithfully every time the doors are open. This is a radical and life changing command to know and understand the God of Scripture, to acknowledge His preeminence in all things, to seek His glory in all things, and to strive to obey Him in all things.
The great importance of this command becomes clear when you realize that in this fallen world you are constantly bombarded with temporal distractions designed to make you forget the worth of God and the joys of His will. Unless you purpose in your heart to remember God and use every means at your disposal to remain true to that purpose, you will fall into vanity and your life will be wasted! Consider carefully what I have written. I am not asking you to simply agree with me. I am pleading with you to purpose in your heart to fixed your eyes on God as though your life depended upon it (for it does) and to actively, aggressively, even violently (Matthew 11:12) seek out and use every means at your disposal to keep from being distracted and falling into the vanities of this fallen age!
It is important to note that the preacher of Ecclesiastes not only commands us to “remember God,” but he tells us the most convenient time to do so - in the days of our youth. It does little good to prepare for a battle at the end of the battle, or to wait until the last lap of the race to tie on one’s running shoes. Likewise, it is a ridiculous notion (found in the head of many young people) that one should delay living for God until later in life and usually after a great portion of life has been wasted. Do not be like the prodigal who “came to his senses” only after squandering his fortune and the strength of his youth. Come to your senses in the early days of your life. Set your heart to seek God now - to know Him, worship Him, serve Him, and rejoice in His goodness. As one older than you, as an ambassador for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through me, I beg you on behalf of Christ, do not waste your life.
“Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance” (Isaiah 55:2).
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