Everybody is going to be judged at least once. It’s something that is unavoidable. No matter what you do in your life on earth, you will eventually be judged for how you spent it. The Lord will have the final say whether you are innocent (TRULY accepted Jesus in your heart as your Lord and Savior), or guilty (lived a life where you never knew Him).

Having a relationship with Christ brings greater joy than anything else. My favorite quote in fact, said by Charles Spurgeon, is “There is no joy in this world like union with Christ. The more we can feel it, the happier we are.” A life centered around God and His presence is the most fulfilling thing. He is the fuel that keeps us going on a daily basis and it’s because of His son Jesus that we are free of the bondage of sin when we allow Him to enter our hearts. He makes life worth continuing to live.

However, you can’t say the same about a life without Christ. A life without God can leave you hopeless, even if it seems like you have everything going for you. It can leave you lonely, even if your entourage is massive. It can cause you to be in a constant state of discontent, never feeling fulfilled and always having some kind of void in your life. This is true especially when barriers begin to come into your life.

A God-filled life makes the barriers meant to keep you from enjoying life bearable.

Young life for most is exciting. You grow in maturity, you have more freedom, you make a ton of new friends, go to college, start your career, and much more. The activities you can partake in are endless. Although there is a level of freedom that can be enjoyed, it’s important to make sure that the decisions you make are wise. More importantly, begin to practice making wise decisions when you’re young. Even more importantly, make sure those wise decisions are made based on an understanding of the word of the Lord, because true wisdom only comes from Him.

When we’re young, we get exposed to the many pleasures that life has to offer. But when the focus becomes solely on those desires and not on God, it can lead to bad habits that have the potential to grow into a lifestyle.

In Ecclesiastes 12:6, it mentions a silver cord being snapped, a gold bowl being broken, a pitcher being shattered, and a wheel breaking. These symbolize how fragile life is. We never truly know how each day is going to turn out. We can certainly plan a day, but there’s no guarantee that there won’t be some event that could change things. Death is very capable of coming easily and unexpected. Life is precious and is a gift given to us by God. It shouldn’t be wasted on taking part in unwise things, especially when you’re young.

If we move forward a couple verses to Ecclesiastes 12:8, it says “all is vanity”.

We have to put God first in everything we do. We have to have the mindset and the assurance that He is our everything, because at the end of the day, nothing else really matters. I’m not saying that there is no value in doing good and being a blessing towards others, but if God doesn’t come first in everything you do and your actions are not driven by His love, then it’s all vanity. Without God, we truly have nothing. When you put God first in everything, it will motivate you to continue to seek Him. When you are going through a situation, you will be motivated to seek God instead of turning to a worldly pleasure.

It’s OK to snack on a helpful book or website every now and then, but ultimately, we should spend the most time being fed through God’s word.

If you’re going through a situation and there is a good website that is helpful, by all means go ahead and read it and use it. Who knows, God may have even sent you to it for a reason. However, we should always seek God first. Whether through prayer or through His word, most of our time should be spent learning important truths and putting them into practice. It may not always be what we want to hear, but it will definitely be something that we need to hear.

In Ecclesiastes 12:11, we’re told that the words of the wise are like cattle prods or goads. If you don’t know what those are, look them up real quick. They were, and probably still are, used to keep oxen and/or cattle moving. Although they’re unpleasant and annoying at first, they keep the cattle moving. Wise words work the same way. They may be unpleasant at first and not what we want to hear, but keeping them in our minds will help to keep us moving in the right direction. God’s direction.

At the end of the day, a life without God and building a habit of failing to put Him first in everything can lead to two things:

1. A lack of purpose
2. Thinking that life is unfair

Many say that in order to have a purpose, you must have a why. You have to have a reason for why you do what you do. Let Jesus be your why. Let what He did for us on the cross be the reason why you live for Him. Don’t do it intending to try and repay Him for it, because ultimately we can’t. Instead, do it in thanks for what He did. God has a unique purpose for each one of us. Seek Him first and allow Him to guide you to fulfilling it. Only then will our we find our lives to have a true purpose.

Many also say that life is unfair, and in many ways it seems this way. But we have to remember that we’re not promised easy lives. Even Jesus didn’t have it easy. He was beaten, humiliated, and hung on a cross for loving the world. I like to think of life as a conversation with God. He’s always communicating to us through situations that we go through whether good or bad. We have to make sure that it’s not a one way conversation. It’s up to us to respond. And despite the unfair things that life throws our way, God will eventually review our lives to see how we responded in those situations. Whether the response was to continue to seek Him, or if we went about it without Him.

The final two verses in the book of Ecclesiastes, pretty much, summarizes the theme of the whole book. No matter what happens and no matter how hard life may get, our goal should always be to work towards knowing God more and building our relationship with Him. Moses tells us this a few times in the book of Deuteronomy, it’s said a few times in Ecclesiastes, and even Micah says this in the book of Micah. When you adopt this mindset, you find that life doesn’t necessarily get easier when it comes to situations and circumstances, but it becomes easier because you know that God works everything for your good if you love Him. You won’t look at situations as unfair. You’ll look at them knowing that it’s happening for a reason and that you need to seek God and allow Him to guide you through it.

Life, especially young life, is meant to be enjoyed. God wants this for us. However, obedience to Him and His commands should not be neglected. I’m not saying that you can’t have fun. But I’ve found that once you seek God in everything that you do, you find that a lot of things aren’t fun anymore. I used to think many certain activities were fun and enjoyable. But once I grew into my faith and got intentional about it, I realized that the stuff I used to do wasn’t fun at all. In fact, it left me with a void inside always wanting more and never feeling fulfilled.

I think we experience unending joy and fulfillment when we discover our purpose and live with the assurance that God will guide us in it. With the assurance that He will be proud when we inevitably stand before Him.

Don’t obey God out of fear, obey because of love.

Like I said at the beginning, we will all be judged at least once in our lives. Don’t live in fear and obey just because you’re afraid of being rejected by Christ. Instead, have a genuine and deep love for Him that gives you a desire to live a life according to His commands and His will. I can’t tell you how exactly the day of judgment is going to be, but I can assure you that the unfair things life throws you can not and will not be a valid excuse for the decisions that we made in our lives. Also, we can’t use a lack of purpose as an excuse either because when we seek God, he helps us to discover our purpose and guides us to where we need to be.

It’s important to know that every good gift comes from God and that life itself is a gift. It’s something that we should constantly thank Him for. It’s something that we should enjoy, but it’s also something that we shouldn’t waste. Don’t wait for tomorrow to begin seeking God, do it now. It may be different and intimidating at first, but trust me, as your relationship with God continues to grow, it will become the thing that brings you the most enjoyment out of life.

REMEMBER: It is not because of anything we did or can do that gives us the opportunity to spend eternal life with Christ. But because of His sacrifice on the cross and His victory over sin and death, we can be a part of the victory too when we allow Him into our hearts and live a life that is devoted to Him.

Love God, love others, seek Him and His wisdom daily, and await the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Related Bible Verses to Help

When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: fear God and keep His commands, because this is for all humanity. For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all his ways, to love Him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul? (Deuteronomy 10:12)

“I tell you that on the day of judgment people will have to account for every careless word they speak.” (Matthew 12:36)

Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. (2 Corinthians 5:9-10)

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)