As much as possible have your Bible beside you. Be familiar with its books, chapters, and pages. Have its doctrines and truths stored up in the heart and memory. Be able to give at least one positive Scripture for the new-birth, life, salvation, forgiveness, justification, glory, which are yours. Count up your treasures gathered from God’s Word, again and again. You will gain immensely by constant study and reference to the Scriptures of all you are taught and enjoy.
Depend upon it, however, that the habitual reading of God’s Word without much prayer and self-examination, will only inflate you with spiritual pride and conceit which are hateful in any, but especially so in the young. Do not think more highly of yourself than you ought to; think soberly of your own attainments (Rom. 12:3). Know your membership in the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:18), then practically act upon it (Rom. 12).
Beware of the evil in thinking you know more than other people. Do not be morbid, cynical, and fault-finding. When you meet a fellow believer do not cause friction of spirit by rubbing against his angles and corners, but look for some traits of Christ in him and esteem him better than you do yourself (Phil. 2:3).
Again we say, Beware of conceit; it is awfully destructive of Christian progress and testimony, and makes one forward, bumptious, and most unpleasant in Christian society. We are here to display Christ and get people to know Him. Live and act in view of eternity and of the judgment-seat of Christ. Let help, not hinder, be our practical daily motto.
Do not lend an ear to evil reports and accusations against any of God’s children. If you are compelled in the interests of truth to hear certain things, see that the evidence be irresistibly clear; there is a lying and unwholesome spirit abroad avoid it. Treat with reverence the aged, and with loving respect the servants of the Lord (1 Tim.; Titus). In all things, in all circumstances, in all relationships, be faithful. Be courteous and gracious, but never condescend to lower the truth, or adapt it, or trim it to suit the whims or the convenience of people.
“Buy the truth and sell it not.”
Cultivate a spirit of cheerfulness and thanksgiving (Phil.). Look onward and up ward. All is bright on the other side of the cloud. Be quiet, modest, and unostentatious in your ways. Avoid habits which are unlike Christ whose name you bear. Be obliging, and generous, and most kind to all, “especially to the household faith” who have the first claim upon your thoughts and purse.
Moral and doctrinal evil is to be shunned, and its supporters too; always however making a difference between those who lead and those who are led (Jude 22-23); guard against extremes.
Speak up for your Master; confess Christ openly and decidedly. Solemnly remember the words of Luke 12:8-9. Make Christ your one object on earth; how to please Him your one desire (2 Cor. 5:14-15; Phil. 1:20-21).