Thoughts for Young Men | Part II
Author: J.C. Ryle
Written: 1888 (Reproduced excerpt from The Upper Room by J.C. Ryle)
Book Links: Thoughts for Young Men | When People are Big and God is Small
Series Links: Part I | Part II | Part III
“In the second place, There are some special dangers against which young men need to be warned.”
Part II
Special Dangers to Young Men
Hello Ordinary Readers,
In Part II J.C. Ryle specifically speaks on five dangers that are especially dangerous to young men. While reading these it is clear that many of these are dangers to all believers some lessen with age and some do not. Ryle writes, “But still every age and condition has its own peculiar snares and temptations, and it is well to know them. He that is forewarned is forearmed” (19). His goal is for young men to be aware of these dangers and on the lookout.
“(I) One danger to younger men is pride” (19).
I certainly agree with Ryle and would say pride is something many struggle with not only in their youth. Ryle writes, “But pride never reigns anywhere so powerfully as is the heart of a young man.” Much agreed. As I work with college students it is evident that many of the young men and women always believer they are in the right. Our society is teaching that your truth is right and everyone else is wrong. This lack of objective truth often comes from the root of pride and I agree with Ryle it is best that a young man beware of his pride. Ryle encourages young men that, “Modesty and silence are beautiful graces in young people” (23). This is something even today I attempt to be aware of, especially if you are the youngest in a room.
“(2) Another danger to young men is the love of pleasure” (23).
This may have been my biggest struggle as a young man and I imagine is for many young men today. Ryle is pointing out the danger of the love of indulgences such as gluttony, sex, drugs, or anything else the flesh desires. Ryle points out that the bible speaks often of this.
“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” - 1 Peter 2:11
Ryle says concerning the body, “It (the body) may become a useful servant, but it is always a bad master” (25). In my youth much of my motivations where focused solely on my fleshly desires. I allowed my body to be my master. Especially sexually. It seems all boys by the time they were teenagers or even before were already finding pornography and experimenting. And this was before everyone had a smartphone. Again working in college ministry it is rare and refreshing to find a young man who is not currently or who has never struggled with pornography. Since they can remember it has been at their fingertips. And many have allowed their bodies to be their master.
As I have gotten older I think one of the biggest areas I have allowed my fleshly desires to win is with food. I have allowed my taste buds to be my master. I rarely find myself eating food for nutrients but for pleasure. Reading these words from Ryle not only is a reminder and rebuke but an encouragement to seek to be my body’s master, to not partake in the flesh.
“(3) Another danger to young men is thoughtlessness and inconsideration” (27).
“(4) Another danger to young men is contempt of religion” (30).
Special dangers three and four while I agree they are still dangers I am just going to list them and say, it is worth reading and meditating on them.
“(5) Another danger to young men is the fear of man’s opinion” (33)
Ryle’s fifth and final danger is the fear of man. This has been written on a lot recently because it is not only something young men struggle with. A great book to dive into this further is Edward T. Welch’s, When People are Big and God is Small.
I think this describes our world today so well! Ryle writes, “In a word, the opinion of the day becomes their religion, their creed, their Bible, and their God” (33). We see this all around us in the world and especially for young men. I remember growing how much television shaped my views and desires. I wanted to be a famous athlete, or maybe an actor, and I would agree with what the world was saying about politics and so on. As I have been a Christian for the last 13 years I have seen how much the Bible calls us to live differently than the world. In the United States, it is becoming less and less accepted to be a Christian and hold traditional Christian values about family, biology, and living. It certainly is less scary to accept whatever is popular in the world today. And why is that, because we fear man’s judgment. But at the end of the day, who will be judging us, man or God? Ryle writes, “How short-lived is man’s enmity, and how little harm he can do you” (34)!
I hope this blog encourages you to look at your own life and see where you can grow and be more like Christ. I hope the young men reading it heed its words, and I also hope this encourages you to pick up and read, J.C. Ryle’s, Thoughts for Young Men.
Happy Reading!
QUOTES
“In the second place, There are some special dangers against which young men need to be warned.”
“(I) One danger to young men is pride.”
“He that is forwarned is forearmed.”
“Ignorance and ineperience are the pedestal of pride; once let the pedestal be removed, and pride will soon come down.”
“Modesty and silence are beautiful graces in young people.”
“The wisest men would tell you they are always learners, and are humbled to find after all how little they know.”
“(2) Another danger to young men is the love of pleasure.”
“They destroy the soul’s peace, break down its strength, lead it into hard captivity, and make it a slave.”
“It may become a useful servant, but it is always a bad master.”
“(3) another danger to young men is thoughtlessness and inconsideration.”
“‘Don’t think’, whispers Satan: he knows that an unconverted heart is like a dishonest tradesman’s books, it will not bear close inspection.”
“(4) Another danger to young men is contempt of religion.”
“Be very sure of this, people never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it. They understand it only too well; they understand that it condemns their own behaviour; they understand that it witnesses against their own sins, and summons them to judgment.”
“(5) Anther danger to young men is the fear of man’s opinion.”
““The fear of man’ does indeed ‘bringeth a snare’ (Prov. 29:25)”
“In a word, the opinion of the day becomes their religion, their creed, their Bible, and their God.”
“How short-lived is man’s enmity, and how little harm he can do you!”
“Will man be your judge in the great and dreadful day of account?-No.”
“Man can do nothing of the sort. Then ‘fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings: for the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool’ (Isa. 51:7-8)”