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Messages to Young People
serve Him here. He left His heavenly home, and came to a world
marred by sin,—came to a people who did not appreciate Him, who
did not love His purity and holiness, who slighted His teachings, and
finally put Him to a most cruel death. “God so loved the world, that He
gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Outward Appearance
God wants something in return for this great sacrifice He has made
in your behalf. He wants you to be Christians, not in name alone,
but also in dress and conversation. He would have you be content to
dress in modest apparel, not in ruffles and feathers and unnecessary
trimmings. He wants you to make your manners attractive, such as
Heaven can approve. Will you disappoint his expectations, dear youth?
The outside appearance is frequently an index to the mind, and we
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should be careful what signs we hang out for the world to judge of our
faith. We want you to follow Jesus as dear children, obedient to His
expressed will in all things. We want you to please your Redeemer by
seeking earnestly that inward adorning. Thus day by day, with the help
of Jesus, you may overcome self. Pride and love of display will be
discarded from your hearts and lives. Meekness and love of simplicity
will be encouraged. Thus the youth may become an army of faithful
soldiers for Christ.
We are living in perilous times, when those who profess to love and
obey God deny Him in their daily lives. “For men shall be lovers of
their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient
to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers,
false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers
of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.”
God does not want you to be found among this class, dear youth. In
His word you may learn how to shun these evils, and in the end be
overcomers....
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the
word of their testimony.” “Then they that feared the Lord spake often
one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of