Chapter 1—Building Character for Eternity
I have a deep interest in the youth, and I greatly desire to see them
striving to perfect Christian characters, seeking by diligent study and
earnest prayer to gain the training essential for acceptable service in
the cause of God. I long to see them helping one another to reach a
higher plane of Christian experience.
Christ came to teach the human family the way of salvation, and
He made this way so plain that a little child can walk in it. He bids
His disciples follow on to know the Lord; and as they daily follow His
guidance, they learn that His going forth is prepared as the morning.
You have watched the rising sun, and the gradual break of day over
earth and sky. Little by little the dawn increases, till the sun appears;
then the light grows constantly stronger and clearer until the full glory
of noontide is reached. This is a beautiful illustration of what God
desires to do for His children in perfecting their Christian experience.
As we walk day by day in the light He sends us, in willing obedience
to all His requirements, our experience grows and broadens until we
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reach the full stature of men and women in Christ Jesus.
The youth need to keep ever before them the course that Christ
followed. At every step it was a course of overcoming. Christ did not
come to the earth as a king, to rule the nations. He came as a humble
man, to be tempted, and to overcome temptation, to follow on, as we
must, to know the Lord. In the study of His life we shall learn how
much God through Him will do for His children. And we shall learn
that, however great our trials may be, they cannot exceed what Christ
endured that we might know the way, the truth, and the life. By a life
of conformity to His example, we are to show our appreciation of His
sacrifice in our behalf.
The youth have been bought with an infinite price, even the blood
of the Son of God. Consider the sacrifice of the Father in permitting
His Son to make this sacrifice. Consider what Christ gave up when He
left the courts of heaven and the royal throne, to give His life a daily
sacrifice for men. He suffered reproach and abuse. He bore all the
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