Your great object, dear young friend, now that you know the Lord Jesus to be your Saviour, should be to live for Him. Life is like a battlefield; it is a struggle. The world would have your heart, and God says to you,
“My Son, give Me thine heart.” Proverbs 23:2626My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. (Proverbs 23:26). Who then is to have your heart, your affections, and the strength of your life?
The whole question of living for Jesus, or living for the world, depends upon where your heart is. You need not make a number of promises or resolutions, for if your heart is really given to the Lord you will live for Him. If on the other hand your heart is only half for Christ, then it is all for the world.
These are precious years of your life, Christian boys and girls.
“The way the twig is bent the bough’s inclined.”
Every day spent with God is a day spent for God. Every day of your youth given to the world is bending the twig crooked. You could not straighten an old twisted oak tree, and the way the early days of your lives are spent will affect your whole life.
We cannot believe that anyone of you is so selfish as to say,
“I am saved, I am going to heaven, therefore I can live for myself.”
“The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all, that they which live, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again.” 2 Corinthians 5:14, 1514For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. (2 Corinthians 5:14‑15).
ML 06/14/1931