Our Young People; Their Privileges and Responsibilities
By M. E. Kern
The little child naturally desires to help its parents. Perhaps all can remember the joy that came to them when they were first permitted to help father or mother in their work. And the very help that was rendered cultivated and strengthened the love for parents. So in the church; it is a joy to know that the Saviour will not only permit us to help him in the sacred work of soul winning, but that he desires our help. Read 1 Cor. 3:9; Mark 13:34; John 17:18. With what joy, then, shall our young people hear this message, which has been sent to them: “There are many Christian youth that can do a good work if they will learn lessons in the school of Christ from the Great Teacher.” “We have an army of youth,” we have further been told, “who can do,” not a little, but “much,” with proper direction and encouragement. Our young people must be encouraged to take up this work; for, as it is with the child in the home, so is it with the children in the church—if they are not encouraged and permitted to work when young, work is likely ever after to be regarded as drudgery. The great conflict between good and evil has been going on for ages. Jesus has given his life a ransom for the souls of men. He sits to-day at the right hand of God, mediating in behalf of sinners. But the work will soon close. Soon Jesus will come, and all the holy angels with him, to reap the harvest of the earth. In the time of this closing work all heaven is astir. The message of the soon-coming Saviour is going to the world. The angel of mercy still lingers until every soul has made its decision. “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:10), and the inhabitants of other worlds rejoice at the tidings of a ransomed soul. What a grand privilege to live in this time, and have a part with Jesus in his work! “We are living, we are dwelling,
In a grand and awful time;
In an age on ages telling—
To be living is sublime.” There is in the heart of every young man and woman a desire to be successful in life. To succeed one must have a definite purpose, and the character of that purpose will determine the character of the success. The highest aim, the noblest purpose, ever set before the youth is presented to the young people of Seventh-day Adventists to-day. It is, as we are told by the spirit of prophecy: “The heaven-appointed purpose of giving the gospel to the world in this generation.” (See “Education,” page 262.) The cause of God to-day needs the strength and energy and tender sympathies of our young people. With the fresh vigor and enthusiasm of youth, with the adaptability to labor under varied circumstances, they are especially fitted to carry this message to all the earth. The world, too, is bidding for our young people; but shall we not turn our backs upon its enticements, and devote ourselves to the work in which God and the angels are interested—the only work that can bring true success? Not only the salvation of others, but our own salvation depends upon it. Have you sometimes asked yourselves, dear young people, why you are so weak spiritually, and why you do not make more rapid advancement? Listen to the answer, in this quotation from “The Desire of Ages,” page 640: “It is because this work is neglected that so many young disciples never advance beyond the mere alphabet of Christian experience. The light which was glowing in their own hearts when Jesus spoke to them, ‘Thy sins be forgiven thee,’ they might have kept alive by helping those in need. The restless energy that is so often a source of danger to the young might be directed into channels through which it would flow out in streams of blessing.” “The law of service is the connecting link which binds us to God,” and “those who reject the privilege of fellowship with Christ in service, reject the only training that imparts a fitness for participation with him in his glory.” (See “Christ’s Object Lessons,” page 324; and “Education,” page 264.) Do you realize that the essence of heaven’s joy is the spirit of self-sacrificing love? If you have been rescued from the power of sin, can you be content to do nothing to rescue others? Would you be happy to live with Jesus, who will ever bear the marks of his sacrifice for us, and not have done something to help him rescue the perishing? Do you realize that to reject the responsibility of laboring for souls is to miss the final reward? The Lord has made a definite call to the young people of Seventh-day Adventists to enlist in the work. “Young men and young women, can not you form companies, and, as soldiers of Christ, enlist in the work, putting all your tact and skill and talent into the Master’s service, that you may save souls from ruin?” “Who of our youth will give themselves to God for the purpose of laboring for the salvation of their fellow youth?” —Mrs. E. G. White, in Signs of the Times, May 29, 1893. Who will respond to the call? It will mean a radical change for many of our young people. But instead of planning how much we can get out of life for ourselves, we should plan how much we can put into life,—how much of service, how much of bringing to others the joy of salvation. When Jesus was only twelve years old, he said, “I must be about my Father’s business.” “From his earliest years he was possessed of one purpose, he lived to bless others.” —“Desire of Ages,” page 71. It was his meat and drink to do his Father’s will, and to finish his work. John 4:34. Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon are examples of what God can do through young men. He wants to show to the world in this time what he can do through young men and women who are wholly consecrated to his service. Let our young people adopt the motto of William Carey, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.” Let them make it the great business of their lives to work for souls. “I should have told him to mind his own business,” said a gentleman to his wife, when she told him that a man of God had spoken to her about her soul. “If you had heard him speak,” was the reply, “you would have thought that it was his business.” If we devote our lives to this work, God will make us to understand our business, and will give us success. What are the privileges and responsibilities of the great army of Seventh-day Adventist young people? They have the most exalted privilege of being soul winners in this closing work of God on earth; and God has placed upon them this burden and responsibility. And there are opportunities for service everywhere. This great missionary campaign affords a special opportunity for work. “Go to work whether you feel like it or not.” Put away your fearfulness, and make a beginning, and you shall know the joy of service. Let parents encourage their children to work, for only in this way can they be fitted for heaven. In “Education,” pages 270, 271, we read: “With such preparation as they can gain, thousands upon thousands of the youth and those older in years should be giving themselves to this work. Already many hearts are responding to the call of the Master Worker, and their numbers will increase. . . . With such an army of workers as our youth, rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Saviour might be carried to the whole world!” “Have you found the heavenly light,
Pass it on;
Souls are groping in the night,
Daylight gone.
Hold thy lighted lamp on high,
Be a star in some one’s sky;
He may live who else would die,
Pass it on.” “Be not selfish in thy greed,
Pass it on;
Look upon thy brother’s need,
Pass it on.
Live for self, you live in vain;
Live for Christ, you live again;
Live for him, with him you reign.
Pass it on.”