Hello Mr. Vinson,

I’m rather confused about what I need to do in my life right now about studying the Word. As of right now I’m a Junior in high- school, and I feel as if God has taught me everything he wants me to know. Now I’m not saying that I know everything about the Bible and what’s in it, but I do feel like God has turned my attention elsewhere so as not to be focused on his word anymore. Have you heard of anything like this before, and if you have, do you know how to “Fix It”, how to recenter my attention back on the Bible and its lessons?

Thank you for listening,
J____

Hi J___,

Thank you for taking the time to write and ask for my counsel at this time in your life. It was at about your age that I signed up for a Bible Correspondence Course, from a liberal arts bible College. I really got into the Word of God, as it was given to me at that time. I later attended and graduated from that college with a B. A. degree with a major in theology. The year after I graduated from college, I married my wife, Sandi, and within the next four years we were both coming out of that church and into the knowledge that God really was a God of love, “who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”.

1Ti 2:3 For this [ is] good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

If you have been listening to the videos or reading the site, then you have seen all the verses of God’s Word which make clear that every man who has ever lived will “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”.

Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

If you believe those words, then you will have no trouble accepting these words also”

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

It is hard for us as parents to accept the depth of the truth of these words which say that “the world, life and death, all things present and all things to come, are ours” and are therefore for our children also. I have five children whom I have brought up in the admonition of the Word of God, and still I have to confess to the truth of those words. “The world, life, death things present and things to come” are also theirs, and they too, will live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, even as they read, hear and keep the things written in the Word of God.
God doesn’t leave young people out of His Word. The One who made us all and put our pulls of the flesh in us gives this advice…

Ecc 11:9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
Ecc 11:10 Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.

Keeping every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, realizing that all things, including the world, and life and death and things present and things to come, are ours, is not a license to go out into this world and waste our substance, but it is definitely an admonition to be prepared to wage the spiritual warfare that must be fought when the Lord sends the Adversary against you to draw you away as a prodigal son who does exactly that. Fortunately for us we are told that we will all “come to ourselves” only after we see how we have squandered our Father’s blessings, and after we have been starved to death for the truth of God’s Word, and we have been humiliated by our own wasteful and prodigal ways:

Luk 15:14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
Luk 15:15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
Luk 15:16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
Luk 15:17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
Luk 15:18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
Luk 15:19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
Luk 15:20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
Luk 15:21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

The Truth is that there is no way to shortcut the necessity to “keep the things that are written therein”, and we will all have a prodigal period in our lives which will bring us to the brink of spiritual starvation and a desire to return to our heavenly Father in renewed gratitude for all that He is.
Just before God admonishes the young people, he has a wise word for the older folks, too. You are at a wonderful stage in your life to be given the knowledge you have. While you can read the admonishments for the young, you are in a position to see down the road also. Keeping this scripture in mind would give many a young person pause before they embarked down a path they know would not have a good ending.

Ecc 11:8 But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.

Like Timothy, you have been blessed with a very Godly mother, and you can experience all the things written in the Word of God in a spiritual sense, which does not necessitate that you wait till you are 50 years old before you “begin to be in want” and the things of the spirit become things of great value to you. There are many very young men in our fellowship who have been crushed and humbled by God at a very young age, and you too, can have that same experience in the Lord.

2Ti 1:5 When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.

You are in my prayers. You will yet face and overcome many trials and tests, but the Lord will see you through them all, and in closing, I can think of no better advice to give you than the advice apostle Paul gave to Timothy.

1Ti 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
1Ti 4:13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
1Ti 4:14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
1Ti 4:15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
1Ti 4:16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

God bless you!
Your elder brother in Christ,
Mike