Testimony Treasures, Volume 1 - Ellen G. White

hart panteth after the water brooks. Then you will love God and love His
law. Then the yoke of Christ will be easy and His burden light. Although you
will have trials, yet these trials, well borne, only make the way more
precious. The immortal inheritance is for the self-denying Christian.
I saw that the Christian should not set too high a value, or depend too
much, upon a happy flight of feeling. These feelings are not always true
guides. It should be the study of every Christian to serve God from principle,
and not be ruled by feeling. By so doing, faith will be brought into exercise,
and will increase. I was shown that if the Christian lives a humble, selfsacrificing
life, peace and joy in the Lord will be the result. But the greatest
happiness experienced will be in doing others good, in making others happy.
Such happiness will be lasting.
Many of the young have not a fixed principle to serve God. They do not
exercise faith. They sink under every cloud. They have no power of
endurance. They do not grow in grace. They appear to keep the
commandments of God. They make now and then a formal prayer and are
called Christians. Their parents are so anxious for them that they accept
anything which appears favorable, and do not labor with them, and teach
them that the carnal mind must die. They encourage them to come along and
act a part; but they fail to lead them to search their own hearts diligently, to
examine themselves, and to count the cost of what it is to be a Christian. The
result is, the young profess to be Christians without sufficiently trying their
motives.
Says the True Witness: "I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because
thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My
mouth." Revelation 3:15, 16. Satan is willing that you should be Christians in
name, for you can suit his purpose better. If you have a form and not true
godliness, he can use you to decoy others into the same self-deceived way.
Some poor souls will look to you, instead of looking to the Bible standard,
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