Basic HTML Version
278
Testimonies for the Church Volume 2
self. You cannot be a true follower of Christ unless you take hold of
this work resolutely.
I saw that you do not naturally possess reverence and respect
for those older than yourself. You should be faithful in the little
errands and duties you are required to perform, and not go mur-
muringly about them as though they were a drug. You cannot see
how unpleasant and unlovely you make yourself. You cannot thus
be happy yourself, nor make those around you happy. You should
bear in mind that God requires of you, as His servant, to be faithful,
patient, kind, affectionate, obedient, and respectful. You cannot
attain to Christian perfection unless you possess perfect control of
your own spirit. You allow feelings to arise in your heart which are
sinful, which are a great injury to you, and which tend to encourage
a hard, defiant spirit, unlike the spirit of Christ, whose life you are
commanded to imitate.
My dear boy, commence anew, determined by God’s help to
follow the things which are true, lovely, and of good report. Let
the fear of God, united with love and affection for all around you,
be seen in all your actions. Be faithful and thorough; rid yourself
of everything like slackness. Have a place for everything, and put
everything in its place. Be accommodating, kind, cheerful, and
agreeable. Then you can win your way into the hearts of those with
whom you associate. One thing ever bear in mind: No young man
can be possessed of a right spirit who does not respect women and
[312]
seek to lighten their cares. It is the worst sign that can be found in a
young man to consider it beneath him to lighten the labor of women.
Such a man is marked. No woman would commit the keeping of
her life to such a man; for he will never make a tender, careful,
considerate husband.
The boy is the type of the man. I entreat of you to face rightabout.
Do everything that needs to be done in the shape of small duties,
disagreeable though they may be. Then you will have the approval
of those around you, and, what is to be more highly prized, you will
have the approval of God. You cannot be a Christian unless you are
a faithful servant in that which is least. If you pray, and strive to do
your best to perform every duty, God will bless and help you. When
Jesus comes to take His faithful ones to Himself, do you wish to have
Him say to you: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”? Do