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Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students
their character and their reputation are affected by their choice of
associates. One seeks the company of those whose tastes and habits
and practices are congenial. He who prefers the society of the
ignorant and vicious to that of the wise and good shows that his own
character is defective. His tastes and habits may at first be altogether
dissimilar to the tastes and habits of those whose company he seeks;
but as he mingles with this class, his thoughts and feelings change;
he sacrifices right principles and insensibly yet unavoidably sinks
to the level of his companions. As a stream always partakes of the
property of the soil through which it runs, so the principles and
habits of youth invariably become tinctured with the character of the
company in which they mingle.
Students should be taught to resist firmly the allurements to evil
which come through association with other youth. Compassed as
they are by temptation, an indwelling Christ is their only safeguard
against evil. They must learn to look to Jesus continually, to study
His virtues, to make Him their daily pattern. Then truth, brought
into the inner sanctuary of the soul, will sanctify the life. They must
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be trained to weigh their actions, to reason from cause to effect,
to measure the eternal loss or gain to the life given to serve the
purposes of the enemy or devoted to the service of righteousness.
They should be taught to choose as their companions those who give
evidence of uprightness of character, those who practice Bible truth.
By association with those who walk according to principle, even
the careless will learn to love righteousness. And by the practice of
right doing there will be created in the heart a distaste for that which
is cheap and common and at variance with the principles of God’s
word.
Strength of character consists of two things—power of will and
power of self-control. Many youth mistake strong, uncontrolled
passion for strength of character; but the truth is that he who is
mastered by his passions is a weak man. The real greatness and
nobility of the man is measured by his power to subdue his feelings,
not by the power of his feelings to subdue him. The strongest man
is he who, while sensitive to abuse, will yet restrain passion and
forgive his enemies.
God has given us intellectual and moral power, but to a great
extent everyone is the architect of his own character. Every day the