Singles - don't waste your youth

The period of life from our late-teens to the late 20s is typically a time of fun, freedom, hormones and confusion.  It is a time of exploration, taking risks and making big decisions.  More than any stage of life these years have the potential to be wasted on riotous living or used to learn grow and serve.  

There are a lot of myths about the college years/early adulthood.  Most of them involve hedonism in one form or another. Our relationships, career choices, hobbies, passions and beliefs are all shaped and reshaped during this stage of life.

These years are periods of intense spiritual battles - lust, pride, and selfishness clash with our new lives, the Spirit and our conscience.  It is a time when satan challenges everything we believe and tries to shake our foundation.  We begin to realize the true state of our hearts and feel the consequences of our sin.

These struggles are normal, but they don't have to dominate our lives.  True joy, peace and security come from two (but actually one) source:

1. True life comes from holding fast to the Truth - new life, true life comes by faith, you must believe the truth to be reborn
2. True life comes from denying yourself and serving and loving others - you can spend your entire life seeking to fulfill your desires and still end up unsatisfied.  Mark 8:35 and Mark 9:35 both reveal the secret to a "fulfilled" life.  It comes through self sacrifice, ie loving others and denying ourselves.

So I offer this - Don't waste your youth.

Find opportunities to serve others, to witness, to teach, to go on missions, to visit others.  You will find that you learn more about yourself than you ever could seeking satisfaction in the world.  You will also have more joy and peace, you will change lives.