YOUNG PEOPLE WITH A FINE FUTURE There were eight persons living before the great Deluge who did not follow the majority but who chose to live lives in harmony with the will of God. None were participants in the violence and immoral acts of that period. So today there are people who are not going along with the godlessness and lawlessness of the majority. These include fine, young boys and girls who think more of being acceptable to God than of being acceptable to the other young people in their age-groups. Notwithstanding what other young people may think or say, they guide their actions by the righteous laws of God. Respecting his wisdom these young people listen to his wise counsel as he recommends in his written Word. Notice what he says to them: “My son, if you will receive my sayings and treasure up my own commandments with yourself, so as to pay attention to wisdom with your ear, that you may incline your heart to discernment; in that case you will understand the fear of Jehovah, and you will find the very knowledge of God.” They will also understand “righteousness and judgment and uprightness, the entire course of what is good.”—Prov. 2:1, 2, 5, 9. By paying attention to the wisdom of God’s written Word these young people are not confused by the course of world events or disillusioned by the failure of world leaders to do what is just. They are able to recognize in these events the evidence that marks this period as the “last days.” Knowing what the unpleasant future will be for those who cling to this violent world of sinful men, they have the courage to strike out on a different path, one that is in harmony with the laws and purposes of God. This is not easy. It means they must act differently from what is popular, and for doing this others may speak abusively of them.—1 Pet. 4:4. It would be much easier to go along with the crowd and have its approval. But what if Noah’s three sons had done that instead of standing firm for what was right in God’s eyes? Their future would have ended with that old system of things at the Deluge. Is it not obvious when we look back to that time that they did the right thing by refusing to do what was pleasing in the eyes of the majority? The time is not far away when many young people of today will be able to look back and rejoice that they stood firm for what is right in the eyes of God despite what others said and did. That certainly must have been the feeling of Noah’s sons after the Deluge destroyed the generation of their time, but they were still alive. Is not being alive more important than the unpleasant things other people might think and say about you or even what they might do to you? Is it not better to do what is right in God’s eyes, despite what they say, and be alive long after they have ceased to be? Although they may now regard you as if a lowly dog, it is well to remember that “a live dog is better off than a dead lion.”—Eccl. 9:4. When this old system of things passes away, the young people who gain God’s approval will have the prospect of continuing to live on this earth forever. What a marvelous future that is! This is what the Bible assures them: “Furthermore, the world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever.”—1 John 2:17
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 05:11:51 +0000
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