Our Youth and Finishing Well

Hi! My name is Wayne Forte and I am a Deacon and the Church Treasurer of Faith Baptist Church.  I am retired now but was a local business owner for the past 17 years and prior to that held an executive position within IBM.  In my free time I enjoy missions trips, landscaping and riding motorcycles.

My Thoughts for today: 

Ecclesiastes 12:1 says “remember your creator in the days of your youth”

If you are like me, you may find yourself reminiscing back to the days of your youth when life was exciting and when most of your thoughts were on things that were important to you at that time, like getting a driver’s license, spending time with friends, getting into a good university, marriage or maybe purchasing your first home.  Young Life is exciting but life without Christ at the center can produce a life of bitterness, unhappiness, and loneliness.  On the other hand, a youthful person who remembers God can have a life that is fulfilling and becomes the foundation that will strengthen them for the trials to come, and they will come.  Our God loves us so much and scripture tells us that if we seek Him, He will give us the desires of our hearts.

How hard it is for a young person today to find Christ? There are so many sinful distractions that were not mainstream in my day.  Our youth are bombarded by social media, music, and videos filled with hateful words and sinful enticements.  It seems that Satan is winning but we know in the end he will be cast into the Lake of Fire.  I look around me and I see very few young people involved in Christian Youth Groups or even attending church service and that is a distressing trend in our nation.  Prayer for our youth has always been important and it seems to me becoming more important as each day passes.  For we know that the prayers of the righteous availeth much.

As a young man, time seemed to pass me by slowly and to me it seemed like my life was moving in slow motion.  I would often hear from my elders “life is short and I wish I had my youth back.” At the time that made no sense to me.  Now I trace my life back in 5-year increments and realize that my life was actually streaming past me.   I can map the happier times in my life to times when I was closest to God.  Our God loves us so much and He tells us that if we seek Him, He will give us the desires of our hearts.  The times I was close to God were too far and few between for me and I deeply regret that.  We all have regrets in life and perhaps if given the chance would do things differently.  For me, I regret most of the times when I drifted away from God’s calling and now I hope to “finish Well.”  

What does “finish well” really mean?  Does it mean that we have reached a position of esteem in life, such as a CEO of a large corporation, or perhaps becoming someone of social importance like a Senator or Congressman or maybe a Federal Judge?   Does finishing well mean that when life ends, we have a multimillion-dollar bank account balance, or perhaps that we have been living a life of luxury? My mind takes me to 2 Timothy 4:7 where the Apostle Paul says “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

It is never too late to finish well.  It is said, “it ain’t over till it’s over.”   Don’t let your life stream by and end without accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  He desires that no one should perish.  All you need to do is repent of your sins, believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and accept his free gift of salvation by His death on the cross for the forgiveness of sin.  To me, that is the true definition of “finishing well.” The question is will you finish well?

We hope you enjoyed the August edition of the FBC blog by Wayne Forte! Please leave a comment below about your thoughts! Stay tuned for next months blog post by another one of our church members!