self on its knowledge but is building on a false premise. Modem education with out God is building a house on sand (cf. Matt. 7:24-27). Nothing without God can endure. The tragedy of fallen man has been his insistence of leaving God out of his life (cf. Psalm 14:1; 1 Cor. 1:18- 25; Rom. 1:18-23). We want to remember, young people, that there is a hidden wisdom for those only who are willing to listen to the Spirit of God. Read carefully First Cor inthians 2 in this regard and notice es pecially v. 14. The wise man will listen to God because he knows that whatever God says is the truth and that whatever God says is worth knowing. (This is the meaning of Prov. 1:5.) Are you listening to the Lord? Are you spending time each day letting God speak to you through His wonderful Word? The Industry of True Wisdom Prov. 6:6 The one great lesson we may learn from the ant is that of industry. As I have observed the ant I feel that his one great liability is that he seems to lack a sense of direction, especially once you get him off by himself away from the beaten path. In this respect the ant re minds me of many people. They have to run with the crowd. They do not have the ability to make up their minds in dependently of others. There is a definite mob-instinct in most of us, and what we need to leam is to walk alone with Christ. Many thousands of young people have gotten into all kinds of sin and mischief simply because they did not dare to stand alone for the thing they knew to be right. But how wonderful to watch a life, especially the life of a young person, busy for the Lord. For this reason many of us long for the conversion of children, be cause we know that when a child is saved a life is saved. The Bible has much to say about the use of our lives. W e are urged over and' over to live for Jesus Christ, and to put the best we have into the hands of our Saviour in order that He might be Lord of all we are and all we possess. In Matthew 6:19, 20 the Saviour urges us to lay up treasure in heaven. How do we do this? By living for Him; by turn ing over to Him our bodies (Rom. 12:1); by letting Him guide us (Rom. 12:2); by giving Him our time, our talents, our treasure, and all that we are. As we do this we are laying up treasure in heaven. The Holy Spirit through Paul advises us to labor for Christ with our whole life and throughout our whole life (1 Cor. 15:58). Study this verse word for word and see if it is being acted out in your daily life. Study Galatians 6:9 in the same connection. Notice the wonderful promise of this latter verse.
to His disciples in John 15:11. Lack of joy in the believer could be, and very often is, caused by sin in the life. This was so in David’s life. Without ques tion David was one of the happiest saints in the Bible. But when sin entered his life he became one of the saddest men in the Bible. (Read Psalm 51.) This Psalm is David’s prayer to God for forgiveness. In his prayer he confesses, not only his awful sin, but also confesses that he has lost the joy of the Lord (v. 12). Disobedience to the Word and will of God will rob a Christian of happiness and remove the song from his heart and from his lips. It is impossible to be joy ous and disobedient at the same time. (Read and study Rom. 12:1, 2.) These verses tell the earnest Christian how he may prove in his own experience that the will of God is good and acceptable and perfect. Out of the will of God and into trouble. Are you living in the will of God according to His Word? If so, I know that you are a happy Christian. Aug. 16, 1953 Rich Solomon and It seems to me that a great truth is suggested by this topic, namely, that a man may be rich in this world’s goods and yet be poor toward God. This was certainly the case with the man our Lord tells about in Luke 12:21f. The same truth is emphasized over and over in the book of the wise man, that is, in Proverbs. It would be a fine thing indeed if every young person would read through the book of Proverbs at least once each month. It would be even a better thing if that young man or young woman would obey the teachings of this wise book, and if he would memorize many of the splendid verses in Proverbs. Proverbs sets forth the wise life as contrasted with the foolish life. The Holy Spirit through the writer of Proverbs urges the Christian, and especially the Christian young person to forsake the worldly life and concentrate on the life of holiness. Walking in the wisdom of God is without doubt the wisest course any person could follow. The Riches of True Wisdom 1:1-6 It is God’s desire for every man that he should know spiritual wisdom, that he should be a truly wise man, not after the standards of this world, but accord ing to His standards which we have in the Bible. This truth is plainly brought out in the paragraph which opens the books of Proverbs. And the key statement is really given in v. 7, “ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. . .” It is right here that many make the big mistake. Modem education boasts it Poor Richard Prov. 1:1-6; 6:6; 10:1
YOUNG PEOPLE continued He wants your joy to be full (John 15: 11). Do you share this wonderful joy? Really now, is your heart singing because you know the Word of God and because you are obeying it? The Expression of Christian Joy _ The joy of being a Christian is ex pressed first of all through a happy life. You watch the lives of people in the church and you can soon tell whether or not they are truly happy. Some Chris tians look as if they had all the cares of the world resting on their shoulders. These people do not take the Word of God seriously. Read the following pas sages and ask yourself if the truth they teach is true of your life—Matthew 6:25- 34; Philippians 4:6, 7. Again, the joy of the Christian life ought to be expressed in the worship serv ices of God’s people. You can tell almost instantly whether or not you are in an assembly of people who really know and love the Lord by the way they sing. Christian singing ought to be joyous, spontaneous, enthusiastic, lusty for the Lord. This truth is brought out in Psalm 150 and in Second Samuel 6:14, 15. How is it in your young people’s society? Do you sing as if you were attending some body’s funeral, or do you sing as if you really believed that Christ is risen and that your sins are forgiven, and that you have heaven in your heart? The Benefits of Christian Joy For one thing, the Christian who has the joy of the Lord in his heart finds that the troubles and trials of this life do not engulf him and get him down. When David played soft music for king Saul during the times of his periods of mel ancholy the king was restored to his right mind (1 Sam. 16:23). Joy certainly has tremendous therapeutic value (cf. Phil. 4:6, 7). As the writer of Proverbs tells us, a merry heart is like a medicine to the soul. Again, Christian joy exalts the Lord. Surely it must please Him to see His people happy and filled with praise. A joyous believer is a good testimony unto the Lord. Just as a husband or wife is happy when he or she makes the other happy, so with our blessed Lord. Certainly Christian joy and the life of the believer whose heart is singing unto the Lord is a real influence on other people. The joyous believer inspires other Christians to praise the Lord; his joy be comes contagious. With regard to the unbeliever surely the happy Christian is a better salesman for Christ than the sad and despondent believer. Do you have the joy of the Lord in your heart? If not why not? Without question the joyless Christian is not liv ing in close fellowship with Christ. When the Saviour is near He speaks as He did
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