Spiritual Problems of Our Young People
By C. L. B.
In Elijah's time seven thousand did not bow the knee to Baal, but today seven thousand of our boys and girls are bowing the knee to Baal, living unconverted, Christless lives. Yearly this number is being recruited by scores and hundreds from our ranks, not because of a lack of interest in them, but because we are woefully void of knowledge as to how best to adapt ourselves and our message to them so that their interest will be aroused and their cooperation secured.19Often as we see the pleasant, apparently care-free faces of our boys and girls, we may ask ourselves if they ever think deeply and seriously about their eternal destiny. Our lack of knowledge concerning them is due to the outer crust that incases the normal boy and girl, which makes them misunderstood and unappreciated. But when we succeed in drawing aside the curtain, we see the hungry boy and girl waiting to be understood and sympathized with. They do not understand themselves, and they are confident no one else understands them. To know them is to win them. At the camp meetings this summer many young men and women pleaded with God for victory. Some had formed the soul-destroying novel-reading habit; others wanted pride and worldliness removed. Dress had held some captive. Many had no interest in the Bible. Slang and foolish talking had robbed many of their peace with God. One young man told me that before coming to the meeting he had been tempted to give up his Christian experience and go into the world. As he reviewed his life, he saw so many imperfections and shortcomings that it seemed he might just as well stop first as last. But he got a new vision of Christ and of his power to save. This caused him to renew his consecration. One young man had been working on the Sabbath for seven years. God brought him to the Northern Illinois camp meeting. The young man had a hard struggle to give up his position, tobacco, and worldly associates; but the Lord won the day, and he was baptized. A young woman had violated her conscience and God's command by marrying outside the truth. Her hope to bring her husband into the truth had been blasted. She was in despair. Her life was so wretched, and the evil one had painted things so dark, that she had ceased to pray. She realized her great mistake, and returned to God. Shall we not do for all our dear young people who are fighting life's battles, many of whom are facing Waterloos, what an aged church elder did for Elder A. G. Daniells when he was a boy? He had become discouraged, and had decided that he could not be a Christian. For three Sabbaths he had not testified. At the close of the third meeting he stepped outside and waited for his mother to come. He did not want to see any one. But the faithful old church elder wanted to see him. He followed the boy outside, placed his arm about him, and asked, in a fatherly way, what was the trouble. Then he kindly encouraged the disheartened boy, and won him back. That marked the turning point in Elder Daniells's experience. Shall we not be instrumental in helping the youth about us to make the right decision?