“I have a deep interest in the youth, and I greatly desire to see them striving to perfect Christian characters, seeking by diligent study and earnest prayer to gain the training essential for acceptable service in the cause of God. I long to see them helping one another to reach a higher plane of Christian experience.

“Christ came to teach the human family the way of salvation, and He made this way so plain a little child can walk in it. He bids his disciples follow on to know the Lord; and as they daily follow His guidance, they learn that His going forth is prepared as the morning.

“God wants the youth to become men of earnest mind, to be prepared for action in His noble work, and fitted to bear responsibilities. God calls for young men with hearts uncorrupted, strong, and brave, and determined to fight manfully in the struggle before them, that they may glorify God, and bless humanity. If the youth would but make the Bible their study, would but calm their impetuous desires, and listen to the voice of their Creator and Redeemer, they would not only be at peace with God, but would find themselves ennobled and elevated. It will be for your eternal interest, my young friend, to give heed to the instructions in the word of God, for they are of inestimable importance to you.

“I entreat you to be wise, and consider what will be the result of leading a wild life, uncontrolled by the spirit of God. ‘Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption.’ (Galatians 6:7). For your soul’s sake, for Christ’s sake, who gave Himself to save you from ruin, pause on the threshold of your life, and weigh well your responsibilities, your opportunities, your possibilities. God has given you an opportunity to fill a high destiny. Your influence may tell for the truth of God; you may be a co-laborer with God in the great work of human redemption. –Messages to Young People, p. 15, 21

THE CALL TO ENLIST

“Christ is calling for volunteers to enlist under His standard, and bear the banner of the cross before the world. The church is languishing for the help of young men who will bear a courageous testimony, who will with their ardent zeal stir up the sluggish energies of God’s people, and so increase the power of the church in the world. Young men are wanted who will resist the tide of worldliness, and lift a voice of warning against taking the first steps in immorality and vice.

“But first the young men who would serve God, and give themselves to His work, must cleanse the soul temple of all impurity, and enthrone Christ in the heart; then they will be enabled to put energy into their Christian effort, and will manifest enthusiastic zeal in persuading men to be reconciled to Christ. Will not our young men respond to the invitation of Christ, and answer, ‘Here am I; send me?’ (Isaiah 6:8). Young men, press to the front, and identify yourselves as laborers together with Christ, taking up the work where He left it, to carry it on to its completion.” –The Review and Herald, June 16, 1891

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF CHARACTER

“God does not bid the youth to be less aspiring. The elements of character that make a man successful and honored among men—the irrepressible desire for some greater good, the indomitable will, the strenuous exertion, the untiring perseverance—are not to be crushed out. –Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 602

COMPLETE SURRENDER

“There are youth who have only common faculties, and yet by education and discipline under teachers who are actuated by high and pure principles, they may come forth from the training process qualified for some position of trust to which God has called them. But there are young men who will make a failure because they have not determined to overcome natural inclinations, and they will not listen to the voice of God in His word. They have not barricaded their souls against temptation, and determined to do their duty at all hazards. They are like one who in a perilous journey refuses any guide or instruction whereby he may escape accident and ruin, and goes on in a certain course of destruction. –Messages to Young People, p. 31

CLEVERNESS, NOT PIETY

“There are youth who have a certain kind of cleverness, which is acknowledged and admired by their associates, but their ability is not sanctified. It is not strengthened and solidified by the graces and trials of experience, and God cannot use it to benefit humanity and glorify His name. Under the guise of godliness, their powers are being used to erect false standards, and the unconverted look to them as an excuse for their wrong course of action. Satan leads them to amuse their associates by their nonsense and so-called wit. Everything that they undertake is cheapening, for they are under the control of the tempter, who directs and fashions their characters, that they may do his work.

“They have ability, but it is untrained; they have capacity, but it is unimproved. Talents have been given them; but they misuse and degrade them by folly, and drag others down to their own low level. Christ paid the ransom for their souls by self-denial, self-sacrifice, humiliation, by the shame and reproach He endured. This He did that He might rescue them from the bondage of sin, from the slavery of a master who cares for them only as he can use them to ruin souls. But they make the love of the Redeemer in their behalf of no avail to them, and He looks with sadness on their work.

“Such youth meet with eternal loss. How will their fun and frolic appear to them in the day when every man shall receive from the Judge of all the earth according to the deeds done in the body? They have brought to the foundation wood, hay, and stubble, and all their life work will perish. What a loss!” –Ibid, p. 43–44

HEIGHTS THAT MAY BE ATTAINED

“Workers of this character are needed now. Those who are men in the sight of God, and who are thus recorded on the books of heaven, are those who, like Daniel, cultivate every faculty in such a way as best to represent the kingdom of God in a world lying in wickedness. Progress in knowledge is essential; for when employed in the cause of God, knowledge is a power for good. The world needs men of thought, men of principle, men who are constantly growing in understanding and discernment. The press is in need of men to use it to the best advantage, that the truth may be given wings to speed it to every nation, and tongue, and people.” –Ibid, p. 34

It is my sincere wish and prayer that the youth of today may rise and take up the challenge, and see themselves as those that God is calling, to provide a service for the finishing of His gospel work, to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people (Revelation 14:6, last part).  AMEN.

Sevith  Moyo

Zambia

Director, Berea Adventist Missionary Institute, Kenya.