Social Gatherings
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The Antidote for Frivolity
Christ lived a life of toil and sacrifice for us, and can we not deny
ourselves for Him? Are not the atonement He has made for us and
the righteousness He waits to give us themes worthy of occupying
our minds? If the youth will draw from the storehouse of the Bible
the treasures it contains, if they will meditate on the pardon, peace,
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and everlasting righteousness that crown a life of self-denial, they will
have no desire for questionable excitement of amusement.
Christ rejoices when the thoughts of the young are occupied by
the grand and ennobling themes of salvation. He enters the hearts of
all such as an abiding guest, filling them with joy and peace. And
the love of Christ in the soul is as “a well of water, springing up into
everlasting life.” ... Those who possess this love will delight to talk of
the things that God has prepared for them that love Him.
The eternal God has drawn the line of distinction between the saint
and the sinner, between converted and unconverted. The two classes
do not blend into each other imperceptibly, like the colors of a rainbow,
but are as distinct as midday and midnight. God’s people cannot with
safety enter into intimate associations with those who know the truth,
but do not practice it. The patriarch Jacob, when speaking of certain
deeds of his sons, which he contemplated with horror, exclaimed,
“O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly
mine honor, be not thou united.” He felt that his own honor would be
compromised if he associated with sinners in their doings. He lifted
the danger signal, warning us to shun wrong associations, lest we
become tainted with evil. And the Holy Spirit, through the apostle
Paul, utters a similar warning, “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”—
The Youth’s Instructor,
February 4, 1897
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Acceptable Social Gatherings
Every talent of influence is to be sacredly cherished and used for
the purpose of gathering souls to Christ. Young men and young women
should not think that their sports, their evening parties and musical
entertainments, as usually conducted, are acceptable to Christ.