In the Days of Thy Youth

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 6
 
"'THE days of thy youth" are, of all others, those for remembering God. We, therefore, appeal to such of our young readers as have not done so, to decide for Christ, and to decide now. To-morrow may never be for us, for ere another sunrise, our portion may be eternity. "Now, while it is called to-day, harden not your hearts." Decide now.
Give God your heart. He seeks for the keys of the citadel. If the citadel fall, the outworks will soon yield. If your heart be surrendered to God, your life and your ways will soon be given to Him.
God requires all that we are, and He receives us just as we are. God will not hold a little bit of your heart only. "My son, give Me thy heart," He says.
Now there is no time so good as that of youth for the devotion of the heart to God, and this is true of the real Christian. The happy life is the holy and unselfish life. Man cannot serve two masters. It is impossible to make the best of both worlds, save by living here as a stranger, having our citizenship in heaven. The cloudy Christian is usually he or she who is bartering with the world for some of its pleasures. The sunny Christian is that one whose inner life is subject to God, and who holds communion continually with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Time rolls on, and we plead with our young friends for a wholly devoted life, one thoroughly yielded up to God. The example of one young Christian downright in earnest, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, is worth more than a dozen books about religion. "Ye are the epistles of Christ, known and read of all men," and such an epistle as a true Christian life is a letter that all our companions read, and though they may say hard things, yet in the heart they, too, wish they were equally decided for Christ.
“Keep your religion to yourselves," the worldly Christian says; but as well ask a violet to keep its scent to itself, or a candle its illumination, as ask a heart filled with the sweetness of Christ's love, and the brightness of His light, to abstain from making Him known.
All, or not at all, is an old saying, and a good one. Whole-heartedness is the privilege of the Christian. Be a good soldier for your Lard; shun time-serving; seek the honor of decision for the Lord who loves you. He will remember in His glory the faithfulness of His people on earth's battlefield. No one who has suffered for Him shall be passed over in the coming day. The hardship and the toil, the wounds and the griefs borne for the Lord Jesus, shall come into remembrance in heaven.
“In the days of thy youth be all for Christ.