If I Was 20 Again
(Written for Casen, a young friend on the road to godliness)
1. I would make it the goal of my life to worship Jesus in the morning of each day, enough until I felt like my soul had been stirred to passionately follow Him for that day, in how I honored Him, and how I loved people. I would read at least one chapter or section in the Bible, and bow my knees to Him every morning, even if the majority of my prayer, Bible study, and private worship time came in the evenings.
2. I would work more diligently at becoming the person God created me to be, and live my life out of that strength, by fighting selfishness ruthlessly, and pursuing godliness passionately. I would strive more to kill the sinful desires in my life that kept me from being the young man God wanted me to be. I would highlight the top two areas keeping me from this goal, and make specific plans on how I was going to attack those top two areas keeping me from being who God wanted me to be. And I would find someone capable of holding me accountable to my goals, and give them unlimited access into my life by asking the difficult questions.
3. I would reach out for help more for my own issues, problems, sin, struggles, and or temptations, so I could throw off “the sin that so easily entangles” (Heb. 12:1). I would be less afraid of what others thought of me, and more afraid of not becoming all that God had for me to become, by dealing with my issues, struggles, sin, temptations, and moral failures. I would pay special attention to these areas: heart issues, sexual wholeness and purity, and personal identity.
4. I would write my own personal mission statement and keep it ever before me as a reminder of the direction that I wanted my life to go, and the overarching goal of my life. I would further write out the details of how that statement could be carried out in my life, and what that would look like. And I would tweak that mission statement as needed throughout my life.
5. I would do more things, in life and in ministry, outside of my comfort zone. I would take more risks with people, with circumstances, and with opportunities. I would start my "bucket list" and keep track of it while I was still young. I would divide that list into areas of my life with life goals for each area including: spiritual, social, professional, personal development, adventure, education, family, ministry, and financial.
6. I would love and serve people more intentionally and aggressively. I would look for specific ways to put my faith into action, looking for ways to touch individual lives, specifically trying to impact more people in deeper ways so that my influence would live on after I was gone. I would write down names of people, and my plan for loving or serving them, and I would record how well I carried out my plans.
7. I would write down the qualities I would want in a wife, and not date anyone whom I didn't think, either met those qualities, or came very close to meeting those qualities. I would be sure that we agreed with each other on 95% of our values, and that we were similar in other important areas, such as personalities, desires, dreams, and goals in life. I would work at developing a strong friendship before it turned into a dating relationship. And I would set firm boundaries (even before beginning any relationship) on how far our physical relationship could go and still honor God in our relationship.
8. I would keep the shortness of this life more in mind on a day to day basis, so that my life would make more of an impact, so that my days would count for the kingdom of God. I would memorize the various verses that speak of the shortness of this life. I would keep a journal of my life, noting my desires, dreams, fears, opportunities, and actions so that I could review it periodically as a reminder to myself about what was truly important in my life. I would take note of the areas where I could have done better, and celebrate the things I did well.
4-11-23