“One life twill soon be passed, only what is done for Christ will last.”

A few of years ago I had the experience a car owner has when the odometer rolls over a significant number.  In my case it wasn’t my odometer, it was my thirtieth birthday and my twenties in the past.  Two weeks ago I passed the 35 milestone, and had a similar experience.  As I move closer to forty and further from twenty, I am urged to write to those who are still in their twenties.  I want to share a few points of advice about how to take advantage of the third decade of your life.  By God’s grace my twenties were spent experiencing some amazing things.  As I look back on things now, I realize that God did more with that decade of my life than I ever could have planned.  Just so you know, I’m not wishing I was still twenty.  I love this new season in my journey and I wouldn’t go back for even a moment.  Part of the reason is that I have an optimistic view of life and my eschatology tells me that I have more to look forward to than to look back on.  Yet there is another reason I wouldn’t go back. I feel that that season of my life was as fruitful and God centered as my wildest dreams could have imagined.  For both those things I rejoice.  So why write about “wasting your twenties.”  Well frankly because we don’t have any time to waste.  If the church in our generations is going to accomplish its mission we must “redeem the time.”  So here are some tips I hope you will take to mind and put to practice before you cross another milestone.  If you are past your twenties, I hope these principles will inspire you to live your current decade of life to the fullest.

 

Tip # 1          Live For The Glory Of God

Tip number one: live your twenties radically and unashamedly devoted to bringing glory to God. If you want to know the key to happiness in life, it’s found in this truth:  We are most happy when we are fulfilling our purpose for living and that purpose is the “Glory of God.”  So if you want to be a happy “twenty-something,” take it from me, give it all to God.  I mean your ambitions, dreams, desires, hopes, fears, strengths and weaknesses.  Give them all wholesale to God.  Live in public and private for the fame of His name.  Manage your relationships, jobs, academics, physiology, and faith in ways that reflect a desire to please God, even when no one is looking.  So many times we think that God will waste our life if we do things His way,  but the truth is you are surer of wasting your life if you don’t give it to him.  Don’t waste your twenties on video games, and movies.  Both have their place but God made us for more than that.  He created us, sent us a Savior in Jesus, empowered us by His Sprit, and called us to make Him known.  We exist for His Glory and nothing is more liberating than living for that aim.

 

Tip # 2 Study Hard and Serve Even Harder

Tip number two; study hard and serve even harder.  It’s not news to you that we live in a very selfish world.  We all seem to be about the business of making it big, but for what.  I spent my early twenties pursing academic excellence.  But I’ll be honest with you, sometimes I took home a “B” in college so I could pursue the service projects I was involved in.  Before I reached age twenty three, I had helped build two houses, one church, and a library for homeless children in Dallas.  I also spent every Thursday night doing “one on one” evangelism at a local community college near my school.  But the highlight was spending each Monday evening in the Dallas Life Foundation serving meals and sharing a conversation with the homeless of the metroplex.  No I didn’t gradate Magna Cum Laude, not that I would not have liked to, nor that others brighter than me couldn’t have done both.  But I chose to study as well as serve, doing the best I could at both.  All this might sound like I’m trying to toot my own horn, but I’m merely trying to tell you that serving people is actually a great way to get an education.

Let me close with this thought.  Having a degree doesn’t mean you have an education.  An education by definition is “developing ones judgment, and preparing for a mature life.”  So in all your learning, grow up to maturity.  I have discovered that true maturity has a lot to do with being generous.  Take a note from parents, they give first and often do without because they have matured to a level of knowing that others are more important than themselves.  Be generous.  Give your time, talent, and treasure for the glory of God.

 

Tip # 3 Go On Mission Trips

Tip number three: go on mission trips.  If there is any time in your life when you will be mature enough and have the time to go away for a month on a mission trip, it’s your twenties.  Once you are working a career or raising a family that’s going to be very hard to do.  This is the time to go, and perhaps you will discover your calling.  If not, at least you will have your eyes open to the worlds need for the Gospel.  I had the joy of traveling to thirteen different countries during my twenties, and they marked my life forever.  Yeah, I know you’re a poor twenty-something.  So what?  So was I!  But I made up my mind to go where God sent me, and He provided all the resources I needed.  I know he will do so for you also.

There is so much more I could share, but perhaps another time.  For now just a word from the Apostle Paul.  “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.  And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.”