Devotion 752

"The Days Of Your Youth"

Reference: Ecclesiastes Chapter 12

Man has a limited time to make the ultimate decision towards eternal life. If that time elapsed, there is not another opportunity. The physical body goes to dust, and the spiritual light returns either to God or to damnation. That decision is made on this side of earth when man has all his mental faculties intact.
Aging simply is the physical body's progression to dust because of the curse blood of the first Adam: the mental faculties are not the same. The physical body begins to break down. Respiration is not the same. The digestive system is not the same. Food doesn't taste the same, sleep is poor, bones weaken. The individual can feel the progression towards physical death.
The Creator, through love, had made provision for man to escape this tabernacle of fallen Adam for the new tabernacle of the second Adam.

Let's read:

Ecclesiastes 12:1 “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.”

The longer one waits to make a decision towards eternal life, the more the heart hardens. Pride takes over. The individual becomes far and far distant from God.

We continue our reading:

Ecclesiastes 12:2-7 “While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: [3] In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, [4] And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low; [5] Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: [6] Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. [7] Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

If the individual remains in unbelief till the end, then the physical body gives up the ghost, returns to dust, the spirit goes to damnation.

We continue our reading:

Ecclesiastes 12:8-13 “Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity. [9] And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. [10] The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth. [11] The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. [12] And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. [13] Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

The whole duty of man on Earth is to become one with God through His word, to fix what the first Adam broke. God made man to be His child, and God has provided a way for men to reconnect with Him. God looks to restore man to himself through the second Adam. The duty of man is to enter back into relationship with God through God's provided way of the new blood, the new Adam.

We conclude our reading:

Ecclesiastes 12:14 “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

Judgment is not to determine where the physical body goes, but where the spiritual light goes. The physical body returns to dust, but the spiritual light returns either to damnation or back to the Creator in eternal life.

Choose wisely in your youth where you will spend eternity. Believe and confess Christ, the second Adam, as we've revealed him, from the first Adam. It’s not where the body ends but where their spirit goes, in Christ!