The Blessings of Youth
1. Your physical ability, unlimited strength
2. Your mental faculty, clear, creative, intact
3. Your spiritual potential, great, passionate
"Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgement." (Ecclesiastes 11:9)
Today's Youth
1. The Lady and her Roses
2. Sedentary, reclusive, self-centered lifestyle
- (NST, 20th April 2012, Datuk Paul Selva Raj, Formosa)
3. "The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have not reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk so if they know everything and what passes as wisdom to us is foolishness to them. - Peter the monk; 1274.
Biblical Youth
1. Jeremiah - Jeremiah 1:4-8
2. Josiah - 2 Chronicles 34:1-3
3. Solomon - 1 Kings 3:7-9
4. Timothy - 1 Timothy 4:12
5. Jesus - Luke 2:49-53
"Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." - Luke 18:16
The Days of Trouble
- The Body Structure: the spine, bones, joints and muscles.
- The Five Basic Senses: sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch.
(Sixth Sense: intellect, intuition)
- The Vital Organs: the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys.
- DOT... "When everything hurts and what doesn't work."
Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 (The Message Bible)
Honor and enjoy your Creator while you're still young,
Before the years take their toll and your vigor wanes,
Before your vision dims and the world blurs
And the winter years keep you close to the fire.
In old age, your body no longer serves you so well.
Muscles slacken, grip weakens, joints stiffen.
The shades are pulled down on the world.
You can'y some and go at will. Things grind to a halt.
The hum of the household fades away.
You are wakened now by bird-song.
Hikes to the mountains are a thing of the past.
Even a stroll down the road has its terrors.
Your hair turns to apple-blossom white,
Adorning a fragile and impotent matchstick body.
Yes, you're well on your way to eternal rest,
While your friends make plans for your funeral.
Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over.
Life as we know it, precious and beautiful, ends.
The body is put back in the same ground it came from.
The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it.
It's all smoke, nothing but smoke.
The Quester says that everything's smoke.
Honor and enjoy your Creator while you're still young,
Before the years take their toll and your vigor wanes,
Before your vision dims and the world blurs
And the winter years keep you close to the fire.
In old age, your body no longer serves you so well.
Muscles slacken, grip weakens, joints stiffen.
The shades are pulled down on the world.
You can'y some and go at will. Things grind to a halt.
The hum of the household fades away.
You are wakened now by bird-song.
Hikes to the mountains are a thing of the past.
Even a stroll down the road has its terrors.
Your hair turns to apple-blossom white,
Adorning a fragile and impotent matchstick body.
Yes, you're well on your way to eternal rest,
While your friends make plans for your funeral.
Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over.
Life as we know it, precious and beautiful, ends.
The body is put back in the same ground it came from.
The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it.
It's all smoke, nothing but smoke.
The Quester says that everything's smoke.