Accountability

[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.
An ironical concession to the vanities and pleasures of youth: Rejoice, O young man! in your youth. Youth, like the blackness of dawn is hebel, swiftly vanishing and thus should not be wasted. Young people should rejoice in their youth.
This is speaking thus ironically to the young man to intimate walking in the ways of the heart:
1. That this is that which he would do, and which he would fain have leave to do, in which he places his happiness and on which he sets his heart.
2. That he wishes all about him would give him this counsel, would prophesy to him such smooth things as these, and cannot brook any advice to the contrary, but reckons those his enemies that bid him be sober and serious.
3. To expose his folly, and the great absurdity of a voluptuous vicious course of life. The very description of it, if men would see things entirely, and judge of them impartially, is enough to show how contrary to reason those act that live such a life. The very opening of the cause is enough to determine it, without any argument.
4. To show that if men give themselves to such a course of life as this it is just with G-d to give them up to it, to abandon them to their own heart's lusts, that they may walk in their own counsels, Hosea 4:7.
They should do whatever their hearts and their minds desire – without forgetting, however, that G-d will eventually judge them for what they do.
G-d will eventually bring every deed into judgment, the author resist the urge to identify what his result of G-d’s deliberations will be and willing to leave such things as rewards and punishments up to G-d’s discretion.
A powerful check given to these vanities and pleasures: and duly consider that, and then live such a luxurious life if you can, if you dare. This is a corrective to the foregoing concession, and plucks in the reins he had laid on the neck of the young man's lust. Know then, for a certainty, that, if thou dost take such a liberty as this, it will be your everlasting ruin; you have to do with a G-d who will not let it go unpunished!
1. There is a judgment to come.
2. We must every one of us be brought into judgment, however we may now put far from us that evil day.
3. We shall be reckoned with for all our carnal mirth and sensual pleasures in that day.
4. It is good for all, but especially for young people, to know and consider this, that they may not, by the indulgence of their youthful lusts, treasure up unto themselves wrath against that day of wrath, the wrath of the Lamb.
[10] Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.
9-10 just as the shortness of life increases the intensity with which we enjoy it, so the days of our youth that pass so swiftly should also be the sour of intense joy.
A word of caution and exhortation inferred from this, entire advising young people to turn aside the sorrows of their minds and the troubles of their bodies.
Let young people look to themselves and manage well their souls and their bodies, their heart and their flesh.
Let them take care that their minds be not lifted up with pride, nor disturbed with anger, or any sinful passion: Remove sorrow, or anger, from your heart; the word signifies any disorder or perturbation of the mind. Young people are apt to be impatient of check and control, to vex and fret at any thing that is humbling and mortifying to them, and their proud hearts rise against every thing that crosses and contradicts them. They are so set upon that which is pleasing to sense that they cannot bear any thing that is displeasing, but it goes with sorrow to their heart. Their pride often disquiets them, and makes them uneasy. Put that away, and the love of the world, and lay your expectations low from the creature, and then disappointments will not be occasions of sorrow and anger to you. Sorrows here understand that carnal mirth, the end of which will be bitterness and sorrow. Let them keep at a distance from every thing which will be sorrow in the reflection.
Let them take care that their bodies be not defiled by overindulgence, uncleanness, or any fleshly lusts: Put away evil from the flesh, and let not the members of your body be instruments of unrighteousness. The evil of sin will be the evil of punishment, and that which you are fond of, as good for the flesh, because it gratifies the appetites of it, will prove evil, and hurtful to it, and therefore put it far from you, the further the better."
G-d wants us to enjoy the good things in life while, on the other hand, continuing to uphold the idea that G-d will eventually evaluate how well we have used our time, under the sun.
Accountability takes a material form under the sun.