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Show Your Colors!, December 1
Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight
before thee.
Proverbs 4:25
.
In
Pilgrim’s Progress
there is a character called Pliable. Youth, shun
this character. Those represented by it are very accommodating, but they
are as a reed shaken by the wind. They possess no will power. Every
youth needs to cultivate decision. A divided state of the will is a snare,
and will be the ruin of many youth. Be firm, else you will be left with your
house, or character, built upon a sandy foundation.... Manifest decision at
any cost.... Those who would walk in the path cast up for the chosen of the
Lord, must not be swayed in the matters of conscience by men who have
often been zealous for the wrong. They must show moral independence,
and must not be afraid to be singular....
Many are changed by every current. They wait to hear what someone
else thinks, and his opinion is accepted as altogether true. If they would
lean wholly upon God, they would grow strong in His strength; but they
do not say to the Lord, I cannot make any decision until I know Thy will.
Their natural inclination is to allow another to be conscience for them;
and they speak after he has spoken, saying what he says, and acting as he
acts. When these persons are placed in circumstances where they must
think and act for themselves, they dare not express any decided opinion.
Yet often, like Aaron, they have much ability. God pity such weaklings....
We must free ourselves from the customs and bondage of society, that
when the principles of our faith are at stake, we shall not hesitate to show
our colors, even though we are called singular for so doing. Keep the
conscience tender, that you may hear the faintest whisper of the voice that
spoke as never man spoke. Let all who would wear the yoke of Christ
show an inflexible purpose to do right because it is right. Keep the eye
fixed on Jesus, inquiring at every step, Is this the way of the Lord? The
Lord will not leave any one who does this, to become the sport of Satan’s
temptation....
Do not imitate men. Study your Bibles, and imitate Christ.
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