The Youth As Missionary Workers
Why is there so great a lack of the missionary spirit among our
youth? Why are there so few of the children of Sabbath-keeping
parents who have any burden to labor for the salvation of souls? It
is because they have not been educated to realize their responsibility.
They have not been trained to render service for God. Had they been
educated from the beginning of their religious experience to be true
to their faith, fervent in piety, and in sympathy with Christ’s longing
for the salvation of souls, there would now be an army of youth to
enter missionary fields. Fathers and mothers, it is your own lack of
godliness and devotion that has brought carelessness and indifference
into your households, and placed your children in the ranks of the
enemy.
The Bible clearly reveals to us the shortness of time, and those
who have genuine faith in the third angel’s message will show their
faith by their works. They will endeavor to keep their children separate
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from worldly influences, and to give them such instruction and training
as will enable them to form characters that God can approve. The
meekness and simplicity of Christ are the very first lessons to be
interwoven with the children’s life. They should be taught to imitate the
Saviour’s example of self-denial and sacrifice. The reason why these
precious lessons are not given to the children is that parents themselves
have not learned them. They do not bring Christ into their religious
experience. They are controlled by worldly principles. Custom and
fashion are followed far more closely than are the teachings of Christ.
Had they lived in close connection with Jesus, they would have
realized the worth of souls, and would have felt a burden for those
who have not the light of truth. The spirit of the third angel’s message
would have led them to practice self-denial. But association with
unbelievers clouds their faith. They lose sight of their responsibility as
the light of the world; and in their dress, in the arrangement of their
houses, in their style of living, they conform to the world, and deprive
the cause of God of the means which he has lent them to advance his
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