You Are Becoming Who You Will Be, Part 2 of 3
For instance, I have never had a young person tell me that they want to be a drug addict, drunkard, whoremonger, or a lazy infidel who cannot hold down a job. I have never met a young person who said, “I want to lose my marriage and family when I ‘grow up’.” However, I have watched many young people get involved with the wrong crowd and desire to sow their wild oats, despite the pleadings of their parents and the warnings of a pastor. These same children have grown up to become the drunkard, or the drug addict. Most have found their “grown-up” lives filled with broken and shattered pieces.
Why? They did not realize that at the age of 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 they were becoming who they would be at the age of 19. They failed to properly prepare at the age of 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 to be a success at the age of 19. The decisions that they made in their youth ultimately affected who they were and what they became as an adult.
Today is preparation for tomorrow. I must prepare today so that I will be prepared when tomorrow comes. As a Christian, I do not know what God may have for me in the future, but I do have today. So while I have today, I must prepare by reading my Bible, praying, listening to wise counsel and serving God, so I will be ready for what the future may hold. My high school basketball coach taught me that you play like you practice. If you are lazy in practice today, then you will be lazy in the game tomorrow.
I was saved at the age of eighteen, and two months later enrolled in Bible college. I knew that God had called me to preach. I did not know where, or for that matter, how to preach, but I started on day one preparing to serve God by serving God on day one. I decided not to serve God some day, but to serve God today. As I cultivated my walk with God, as I listened to my teachers teach, as I listened to the preachers preach, and as I sought to reach people on my bus route, God was molding me into His servant. He was preparing me to pastor Lighthouse Baptist Church. In college, I was becoming the pastor that I am today. Today, I am becoming the pastor that I will be tomorrow.
David was the greatest king that Israel ever had. He is remembered as the man after God’s own heart. I Samuel 13:14b says, “The LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart.” This was written when David was in his youth. Little did David know that as he was keeping his father’s sheep, he was becoming the man after God’s own heart. His preparations as a youth laid a strong foundation for his future as a king.
It was said of David, in his youth, that he was “…a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD was with him.” (I Samuel 16:18) In his youth, David did not stand idly by while Goliath defied the armies of God. As King Saul sought to take David’s life, he, as a young man, refused to lift up his hand against the LORD’s anointed. When Ziklag was burned with fire, and David lost everything, he encouraged himself in the LORD. Multiple times, when David needed guidance, he inquired at the Word of the LORD. With each day and with each defining moment, David, as a young man, was becoming the great king that would sit on the throne for 40 years, the man after God’s own heart.
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