Part 3: Our Strength
There is a specific window of time in every life where our energy is at its peak. Our minds are sharp, our bodies are capable, and our hearts haven’t yet been hardened by decades of cynicism. God doesn’t just want the leftovers of your life; He wants the strength of your life.
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;”
Notice that word “now.” This isn’t a suggestion for later; it is a command against delay. Youth is the fittest time to begin serving God because it is the season when the mind is most ready and the body is most able. John Gill, the great Bible commentator, noted that those who wait until old age to turn to God often come with very little strength left to give, if they ever come at all.
Maybe you are like me and you’re “getting up there” in years. I’m not as strong as I was in my 30s. I don’t have the same raw energy I had in my 20s. But I am stronger and have more energy today than I will in ten years, that’s for sure. I must loan God the energy I have today, because I won’t have the same opportunity tomorrow and God will use it in ways I could never imagine.
As I think back on my life when I didn’t follow God, my strength and energy was wasted. There was zero return. I can’t go back now and change it. But I can learn from it and ensure all my energy is used in a way that honors God.
Here are a few reminders to ensure we give God our strength while it still carries weight.
1. Your Strength is Given for a Purpose
Your strength is not neutral. It is either being used to honor God or it is being wasted on yourself.
Ecclesiastes 9:10, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.”
Whatever is done for God should be done with every bit of ability a person has. Ability is a gift from God, and neglecting to use it for Him is a misuse of that gift.
1 Samuel 2:30, “…for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.”
Honoring God involves both inward respect and outward action. That means you point your effort, not just intention. When we are young and give our energy to God, He marks that life for a specific kind of usefulness.
2. Strength Fades, So Invest It While It Works
Strength declines over time. The body slows down and the mind tires out. Energy spent on yourself is simply gone once it’s used, but energy loaned to God carries forward into eternity.
Psalm 90:10, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”
Think of your strength like money sitting in a bank account. It is going to be spent eventually. You can’t hoard it or save it for a rainy day hundred years from now. Your energy will be used up. The only question is: what will you have to show for it when the account hits zero?
3. The Best Years Shape the Rest of Life
Carrying the weight of responsibility early in life builds a spiritual endurance that lasts. In the Bible, a “yoke” represents work, discipline, and service.
Lamentations 3:27, “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.”
Many people spend their youth trying to avoid pressure, but avoiding the yoke only builds weakness. Pressure in your younger years is not harmful when it is tied to God, it is forming you. It creates the “muscle memory” of faith that you will need when the “evil days” mentioned in Ecclesiastes finally arrive.
Strength and ability are not permanent; they are given for a season. When that season is gone, you can never offer that same level of service again. Don’t wait until you are exhausted by the world to offer God what’s left. Loan Him your strength today!
