Youthful Wisdom

J.A. Matteson

"He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm."  Proverbs 13:20

Young person, what is it that you seek?  Are you enamored with fame, position, power, or wealth?  Who's favor do you seek?  Is it that of your friends, teachers, boyfriend, girlfriend, parents, brothers and sisters?  Who's opinion matters to you?  Truthfully, are your decisions influenced more by your feelings or by carefully thinking things through before you choose a course of action?  And while we have never met I would venture to say you want to invest yourself into things you deem worthwhile, enduring, beautiful, creative, to leave your unique mark on this world, to leave it if possible, a bit better because you lived.  Right?  Otherwise what's the point if it all?  Yet you are in the flower of your youth and by your perspective the day that you find yourself aged seems like an eternity away.  Indeed you secretly feel immortal and the very thought of your life ending seems impossible, that happens to other people, but not you.  By now you have experienced the unexpected loss of a friend or known of a friend of a friend who died in their youth.  You are unsure how to process it.  But process it you must.  And in the quiet moments of your inner thoughts you know something about death is wrong, it's not right, it's not supposed to be this way.  It's so permanent.  The melancholy introspection causes you to long for something above and beyond the normal human experience on earth, you long for that which is eternal.  Where did that come from?  There is an answer and it is this: God has hard wired into your being the longing for eternity because you were created by God as an eternal being, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).  How you ask is that even possible?  Why would God do this?  God tells us why in the book of Genesis, "Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground'"(Genesis 1:26).  To be created in God's image is not reflected in your body because God is Spirit and does not have a physical body. To be created in God's image is to mirror his likeness in terms of personhood. Personhood, what is that?  God thinks, feels, makes decisions, plans, creates, and so forth.  Consider how people differ from dogs and cats, they may have feelings and instincts but are incapable of complex thinking, reading, mathematics, and the like. They don't build ships, libraries, or open restaurants. So not only has God placed eternity in your heart because God is eternal, he has also placed within you a desire for significance, that too is something animals lack.  So now we come full circle back to my original question: young person, what is it that you seek.  Sure we all seek different things daily, but strip those things all away and at the core of your inner self your greatest longing (placed there by God) is for a life of significance and ultimately eternity, and neither of those longings can be yours apart from knowing God and fulfilling his wonderful plan for your life.  Look at that first scripture again, "He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm."  Do you consider yourself a wise person.  Sure you do.  But by who's standard, yours or Gods?  What does it mean to "walk" with wise people?  A better question is who is wise by Gods standard and who is foolish?  Here's the truth, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" (Proverbs 9:10).  From Gods perspective the wise person is the one who acknowledges his existence and who displays a deep respect for him.  So who does God consider a foolish person?  You guessed right, "The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good" (Proverbs 14:1).  So how can you fulfill a life of significance?  Be a wise person, that is, one who acknowledges and lives in daily relationship with God through his Son Jesus Christ.  At that you might push back, thinking that's pretty restrictive.  Surely all religions worship the same God, right?  Wrong.  The eternally wise God took on humanity through the person of Jesus Christ, lived the perfect (sinless) life we are incapable of living, died for our sins in our place on a wooden cross, and was raised from the dead on our behalf, so that all who place their trust in him for the eternity they desire will not be turned away.  Is Jesus really the only way to God?  In his own words, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Did Jesus make any promises about eternal life by trusting in him for it?  Yes he did!  Jesus said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).  That's awesome news, isn't it?  So is there anything else to living wisely?  Yes, choose your friends carefully by hanging around other wise people who can help you as you help them live your life according to the good plan he has designed for you.  Remember that if you decide to hang out with unwise people you will cause yourself harm, "Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character" (1 Corinthians 15:33).  Now that you know what it truly means to be wise, go do it.

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