It is extremely rare that we go through our day forgetting to eat! And now in this world of social media, most of us never forget to check our social media accounts! However, there’s one thing we tend to forget which is our relationship with our creator! We’ve almost convinced ourselves that we can go through life without remembering Him daily! But the truth is that life without Him is hopeless! As young Christians, we battle with this even more because there are distractions all around us. I want you to know that you are not alone in this! I also want to let you know that God knew we would have this struggle, especially in our youth and young adult years. This is why He was sure to remind us in His Word, in Ecclesiastes 12:1 to “remember now your Creator in the days of your youth.” This blog series entitled “In the Days of Your Youth” is geared towards young people who want to live their life remembering their Creator. In this first post, I want to share with you two basic things that should be found in your heart so that remembering your Creator will become your lifestyle: (1) Your fear of God (2) Your love for God.
Fear God
The first thing I want to share with you is that you must fear God. In the bible, there is a passage, which is found in the book of Psalm 112:1,It writes: “Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments (NKJV).” Let us ponder on this verse a bit more. This scripture calls those who fear God “blessed”. How is that so? What does it mean to be blessed? There are many definitions to the word “blessed”, but in our context, it means to be “endowed with divine favor and protection (oxford dictionary).” Well then if that is so, am I blessed because I’m scared of God? I don’t believe so! The fear of God does not mean to be so afraid of God that you are unable to approach Him. It means to give reverence to God: to show honor and deep respect towards Him. When we revere someone, we care to do what is right before them; we don’t take their commands lightly. The Bible also tells us that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom (proverbs 9:10). In other words, fearing God is what allows us to begin walking in wisdom. The wisdom that you can experience in God is one where the choices you make in your life are aligned with what God wants for you! I can testify to you that there is safety and great joy in aligning yourself with the will of God and in walking in the path that He has for you!
Love God
I would love to give you a free secret on how you can have the fear of God in your heart if you will allow me. The only way you can truly have the fear of God in your heart is when you Love him. If you love God, you will want to please him. As we read the second half of Psalm 112 verse 1 “[How blessed is the man] who greatly delights in His commandments,” we can see that to enjoy the blessings of God in our life, we must not only fear Him, but also delight in His commandments! Note the word Delight! This scripture is basically telling us that simply obeying God’s commandments is not enough, we must delight in them. To delight in something or someone means to take pleasure in them. I truly believe that it is almost impossible to delight in God’s commandments if we don’t love Him first. I say this because this is a matter of the heart. Some people might obey God’s commandments, but they grudgingly or unwillingly do so; Their motive is simply to make themselves look good in front of their friends and their church, but this is not what is required of a true child of God. Our God desires that we take pleasure in his Word, but to do so we must love Him. “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5, NKJV)” is the first of the commandments! Then, once you love God, fearing Him and doing what He wants of you will not be a burden, you will desire to do them even if they seem difficult!
I know this to be true that when we fall in love with someone for the first time, it is never a chore to take time to conversate with them. And If they do not like a certain habit that we have, though difficult to stop, we would at least try. How many of you can attest to this? Well, it is the same thing with God! If you really love him, it won’t feel like a chore to spend time with Him and if you have a certain sin in your life (sin is anything that God doesn’t like), you will want to stop doing it. When life gets extremely busy that it is hard to find time to spend with God, to read your bible, you will try your best because you love him. If there is something in your life that you know God doesn’t like, you will take it to Him and you will allow Him to help you get rid of it because you take pleasure in obeying Him and in doing what pleases Him. This, I believe is the fear of God!
Sadly, I think that our generation has lost this fear of God that the psalmist speaks of and we certainly do not take delight in His commandments, but there is still hope! I believe that we can get back to that place of fearing Him and delighting in every Word that comes from Him! I want you to know today that each of God’s commandments are actually for your good and for my good! Life is much simpler when we take heed to His voice and when we fear Him by giving Him the honour and respect that is due to Him. His desire is to be in a relationship with you and guide you through life, so respond to His heart today and return to the place of true fear and delight in God’s commandments.
Before you go, below are a few questions that you can meditate on throughout the week! Stay tuned for our next post!
Love, Shéshé
Questions to meditate on:
Is the fear of God evident in my life? How so?
Do I take pleasure in hearing what God has to say? even His commandments?
***Many of the things that I’ve shared and will be sharing with you in the upcoming weeks are things that I’ve learned through some of my experiences (success and failures), but mostly through the amazing biblical teachings of my spiritual parents, pastor Shyju and Tiny Mathew and also the upbringing of my biological parents Louiselmé Joseph and Algrace Charles. So, I hope these things which have helped me in my youth up until now will help you as well! For a deeper understanding of God’s word and on how to love him better, please visit:
https://www.youtube.com/user/smministries
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