Messages to Young People: Chapter 1

"Ever remember that Jesus is Your helper" MYP 17.1

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In 2013 I was a 5th grader who went to a public elementary school a block from my house. I had just transferred from a Charter School and was trying to get acclimated to the new environment that I was in. By then, I started to hear of a winter ball that was coming up that Friday, and it seemed like the talk of the week:

What type of dress are you wearing?

Who do you plan on matching up with?

Are you doing your nails and makeup?

What color are you wearing?

I remember running home to my parents, so excited about planning to attend this winter ball. However, I soon learned that my plans would not become reality. Since the event fell on a Friday evening, I was not able to go. It would be sunset by then, and since it would run into the start of the Sabbath, I would not be able to go. Upset, I questioned why I couldn't go, why I couldn't make new friends, or even, why I was not able to enjoy childhood. I felt as though my religion had limited me to the point where I wanted to do the things my friends did!

Boy, am I happy for the curbing my parents had on me the more and more I get older. Over time, I started to understand that no, it wasn't that I was being limited, it was because by doing the things that God intended for me to do (like keeping the sabbath), I was able to foster a deeper relationship with Him.

I found that I could find joy in being in this world, but not a part of it.

In chapter one of Messages To Young People by Ellen G. White, we find the reason why Christ and his law should be at the center of our everyday lives: to ensure that when we go to the new heaven above we will have prepared ourselves to the best that we could have (with the help of the Holy Spirit of course).

Many times, we dwell on the now. What am I wearing now, what am I going to eat, drink, do, say, or listen to NOW? We get so caught up in what WE would like to do, that we forget our main purpose for being here on this earth. Just as Christ instructed his disciples to go out into all the world to preach the good news of salvation (Mark 16:15-16), so should we as well!

"The youth need to keep before them the course that Christ followed. At every step, it was a course of overcoming"

By Keeping Christ at the center, White implores us that it will lead to "overcoming", reminding us that the way that Christ led is for us to follow. We shouldn't follow our thoughts/imaginations. We should look to Him ONLY.

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." - John 16:33

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