THE PAIN OF A WASTED YOUTH

Youth is the first half of life and it means so much

to God (Eccl.12:1). It is a season of life that is
synonymous with beauty, freshness, strength, vitality,
activity, agility etc. It is a season that comes once in
a lifetime. The purpose of this season of life is not
clear to many youths. Consequently, they end up wasting
it. They spend it doing what they want to do rather than
what they ought to do. A wasted youth is one of the
tragic realities of life and a recipe for regret and
misery later in life. Most of life’s avoidables are
traceable to a misspent youth.
Youth is wasted if it is used to explore the bad side
of life. It is wasted if it is lived, like Esau did in
the Bible, without consideration for the future. It is
wasted if it is used to sow your wild oats. It is wasted
if all you live for are things that will not outlive the
sun, the moon and the stars. It is wasted if you are
grossly engrossed in the pursuit of the frivolities,
trivialities and vanities of this world. It is wasted if
it is not used to fight the battles of life. It is wasted
if the zeal, zest, enthusiasm, resilience and the energy
of your youth are not used to God’s advantage. It is
wasted if God is not the centerpiece of your life. It is
wasted if your language is not “My Father, thou art the
guide of my youth” (Jer. 3:4). Youth is wasted if God is
not in the driving seat of your life. It is wasted if God
is not the be-all and end-all of your existence. It is
wasted if it is not used to discover and pursue the
reason for living. Youth is wasted if it is not used to
knock the rough edges off your life. It is wasted if you
cannot say with the Psalmist: “O God, thou hast taught me
from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous
work” (Psalm.71:17). Youth is wasted if you cannot make
reference to the good things you did while young in your
autobiography. It is wasted if you cannot say with
Obadiah that “I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth”
(1st king 18:12). It is wasted if you cannot say with Job:
“Oh that I were as in months past…as I was in the DAYS OF
MY YOUTH when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle….”
(Job29:2-4). In the days of his youth, Job had access to
divine secrets. He had understanding of deep things that
were beyond the wildest imagination of other frivolous
youths. Does that describe you?

Youth is wasted if God cannot remember your youth for

something good. Of the Israelites God said: “I remember
the devotion of your youth…..” Jer.2:2. Devotion in
youth? Purity in youth? Godliness in youth? What will
God remember your youth for? Will He remember it for your
implicit obedience to Him? Will He remember it for your
availability to promote His cause on earth? Will He
remember it for being a fashionista and a gigolo? Will He
remember it for labouring in His vineyard (Matt.20:1)?
Will He remember it for fighting His battles? Will He
remember it for being on His side when others were
goofing around and drifting aimlessly with the crowd?
Will He remember it for sitting at His feet to hear and
read His word when others were busy reading romantic
novels and sexually explicit materials? Will He remember
it for your stubbornness, recklessness, perversity,
profligacy and rebellion? Will He remember it for your
sexual escapade? Will He remember it for the many girls
you dated and the many hearts you broke? Will He remember
it for using it to advance and enhance the interest of
the devil on earth? Are you not spending your youth
partying, gallivanting, drinking, smoking, watching TV
programs that are neither educational nor uplifting
spiritually, listening to music that carries sexual
overtones and experimenting with drugs? Are you not busy
daydreaming and following the IDOLS of this present
world? Is sexual experimentation not the be-all and end-
all of your existence? Have you not jumped on the
bandwagon of those who have made premarital sex their
favourite pastime? Is “dressing to kill” not the
consuming passion of your life in the days of your youth?
Is all that matters to you not wearing outrageous and
suggestive dresses that accentuate the EROGENOUS ZONE of
your body, to play upon men’s emotion and consequently
lure them into the forbidden zone of sexual immorality?
Are you not going about looking for and cashing in on
opportunities to prove your sexual prowess? Are you not
busy mastering the techniques of playing upon girls’
emotion by whispering sweet nothings into their ears just
to have your way with them? Are you not preoccupied with
the thoughts of how to “ginger your swagger and swagger
your ginger”? Isn’t this the total/dominant picture of
your youth? Is this what God will remember your youth
for? Is this what you will remember your youth for? Is
this the story you will tell unborn generations about the
most precious days of your life? Then YOUTH IS WASTED!
And when youth is wasted, half of life is wasted! HALF OF
LIFE? Life that is a story that is soon told? What a
crime to waste youth!

What an irredeemable loss to give the cream of

your life to sin and the devil! What a tragedy to spend
the first half of your life without God in the picture!
How painful it is to realize when the season of youth is
over that youth is half the battle as far as becoming all
you can be is concerned! How painful to say later in
life, “If only I were young again” knowing full well that
it is not possible to put the clock back! What a pain to
realize that you may have to go the second mile to make
up for lost time in order to measure up to God’s
expectation for your life! What a pain to spend the rest
of your life undoing the mistakes of youth! What a pain
to be fighting backlog of battles that should have been
fought instalmentally in the days of your youth! What a
pain to be sowing when you ought to be reaping. What a
pain to use the leftovers of your energy trying to
reclaim the ground you have conceded to the enemy in your
youth! What a pain to attempt to fly when you can no
longer flap your wings! What a pain to spend the most
critical days of life doing things that will evoke
unpleasant memories later in life. What a pain to spend
the days of youth doing things that, later, will fill
your eyes with TEARS OF REGRET! What a pain to spend your
youth doing things you will be ashamed to tell your
children which you will not want them to do. What a pain
to become WISE AFTER THE EVENT- after a lot of damage has
been done! What a pain to have to say with Lord
Beaconsfield when you have got past it that “youth is a
mistake, manhood a struggle and old age a regret”! What a
pain to realize that you are starting life behind
schedule when you have come to your senses! What a waste
to spend the first half of your life doing your “OWN
THING” and the last half hiding from the SHAME of it!

The excesses of youth will leave behind a SCAR

that will serve as a “MEMORABILIA” of a frivolous youth.
I have seen people who have a lot to show for their
dissipated youth. Many have been reduced to “a piece of
bread” (Prov.6:26). What they called youthful
indiscretions, juvenile error, peccadillo etc have robbed
them of God’s best for their lives. Some got into
relationships that precluded the possibility of becoming
all they could be. Some contracted sexually transmitted
diseases that set the stage for their premature exit from
the theatrical stage of life. They crossed paths with the
DESTROYER (Psalm 17:4) by their frequent visit to scenes
of EPICUREAN EXCESSES- boxers and bikinis parties, beach
parties, pool parties, night club etc. They are
tearfully looking for what they lost in their youth for
toeing the path of ESAU-the path of INSTANT GRATIFICATION
(Heb.12:16, 17). Their wasted youth has become an
albatross around their neck. Little did they know that
they were opening the Pandora’s Box when they were busy
painting the town red in their youth. What they called
FUN in their youth is actually a POISONED CHALICE. Now
they know that sex is not all it’s cracked up to be.
It is a great thing to know God in the days of
your youth. It is the WISEST THING to do. It is the
GREATEST INSURANCE against REGRET. Will you heed the call
to remember your Creator in the days of your youth? Will
you cry unto Him now and say, “My Father, thou art the
guide of my youth” (Jer.3:4)? Repent of your sins and
accept Jesus into your life as your Saviour and Lord.
That way, a wasted youth will be off the record of your
life. There are no two ways about it!
"Heavenly Father, have mercy on me, a sinner. I
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God
and that he died on the cross so that I may have
forgiveness for my sins and eternal life. I believe in my
heart that you, Lord God, raised Him from the dead.
Forgive me every sin I have ever committed and come into
my heart as my Saviour and Lord today and take full
control of my life from this moment on; I pray this in
the name of Jesus Christ." Amen.
Ibrahim Taiwo
(+2348069784689, calvaryyouthoutreach1@gmail.com)
CALVARY YOUTH OUTREACH, LAGOS, NIGERIA
www.calvaryyouthoutreach.com