Guiding Principles
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inheritance in riotous living. He is friendless, and in a strange country;
clad in rags, hungry, longing even for the refuse fed to the swine. His
last hope is to return, penitent and humbled, to his father’s house,
where he is welcomed, forgiven, and taken back to a father’s heart.
Many youth are doing as he did, living a careless, pleasure-loving,
spendthrift life, forsaking the fountain of living waters, the fountain
of true pleasure, and hewing out to themselves broken cisterns, which
can hold no water.
God’s Gracious Invitation
God’s invitation comes to each youth, “My son, give Me thine
heart; I will keep it pure; I will satisfy its longings with true happiness.”
God loves to make the youth happy, and that is why He would have
them give their hearts into His keeping, that all the God-given faculties
of the being may be kept in a vigorous, healthful condition. They are
holding God’s gift of life. He makes the heart beat; he gives strength
to every faculty. Pure enjoyment will not debase one of God’s gifts.
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We sin against our own bodies, and sin against God, when seeking
pleasures which separate our affections from God. The youth are to
consider that they are placed in the world on trial, to see whether they
have characters that will fit them to live with angels.
When your associates urge you into paths of vice and folly, and all
around you are tempting you to forget God, to destroy the capabilities
God has intrusted to you, and to debase all that is noble in your nature,
resist them. Remember that you are the Lord’s property, bought with a
price, the suffering and agony of the Son of God....
The Lord Jesus claims your service. He loves you. If you doubt
His love, look to Calvary. The light reflected from the cross shows
you the magnitude of that love which no tongue can tell. “He that
keepeth My commandments, he it is that loveth Me.” We are to become
acquainted by diligent study with the commandments of God; and then
show that we are His obedient sons and daughters.
Surrounded by God’s Mercies
The mercies of God surround you every moment; and it would be
profitable for you to consider how and whence your blessings come