Section 7—Adolescence and Youth
Chapter 32—Infatuation and Blind Love (Part 4)
[See Section V, “Life’s Energizing Force.]
Perils of Infatuation—Some of those who attend the college do not properly improve their time. Full of the buoyancy of youth, they spurn the restraint that is brought to bear upon them. Especially do they rebel against the rules that will not allow young gentlemen to pay their attentions to young ladies. Full well is known the evil of such a course in this degenerate age.
In a college where so many youth are associated, imitating the customs of the world in this respect would turn the thoughts in a channel that would hinder them in their pursuit of knowledge and in their interest in religious things. The infatuation on the part of both young men and women in thus placing the affections upon each other during school days shows a lack of good judgment. As in your own case, blind impulse controls reason and judgment. Under this bewitching delusion the momentous responsibility felt by every sincere Christian is laid aside, spirituality dies, and the judgment and eternity lose their awful significance.—Testimonies for the Church 5:110 (1882).
When Human Loves Come First—With many, the love for the human eclipses the love for the divine. They take the first step in backsliding by venturing to disregard the Lord’s express command; and complete apostasy is too often the result. It has ever proved a dangerous thing for men to carry out their own will in opposition to the requirements of God. Yet it is a hard lesson for men to learn that God means what He says. As a rule, those who choose for their friends and companions, persons who reject Christ and trample upon God’s law eventually become of the same mind and spirit.—The Signs of the Times, May 19, 1881. (Sons and Daughters of God, 165.)
Mixed Marriages—If you, my brother, are allured to unite your life interest with a young, inexperienced girl, who is really deficient in education in the common, practical, daily duties of life, you make a mistake; but this deficiency is small compared with her ignorance in regard to her duty to God. She has not been destitute of light; she has had religious privileges, and yet she has not felt her wretched sinfulness without Christ. If, in your infatuation, you can repeatedly turn from the prayer meeting—where God meets with His people—in order to enjoy the society of one who has no love for God and who sees no attractions in the religious life, how can you expect God to prosper such a union?—Testimonies for the Church 3:44 (1872).
Marriage of Christians With Unbelievers—There is in the Christian world an astonishing, alarming indifference to the teaching of God’s Word in regard to the marriage of Christians with unbelievers. Many who profess to love and fear God choose to follow the bent of their own minds rather than take counsel of Infinite Wisdom. In a matter which vitally concerns the happiness and well-being of both parties for this world and the next, reason, judgment, and the fear of God are set aside, and blind impulse, stubborn determination, is allowed to control.
Men and women who are otherwise sensible and conscientious close their ears to counsel; they are deaf to the appeals and entreaties of friends and kindred and of the servants of God. The expression of a caution or warning is regarded as impertinent meddling, and the friend who is faithful enough to utter a remonstrance is treated as an enemy. All this is as Satan would have it. He weaves his spell about the soul, and it becomes bewitched, infatuated. Reason lets fall the reins of self-control upon the neck of lust; unsanctified passion bears sway, until, too late, the victim awakens to a life of misery and bondage. This is not a picture drawn by the imagination but a recital of facts. God’s sanction is not given to unions which He has expressly forbidden.—Testimonies for the Church 5:365, 366 (1885).
Definition of an Unbeliever—Though the companion of your choice were in all other respects worthy (which he is not), yet he has not accepted the truth for this time; he is an unbeliever, and you are forbidden of Heaven to unite yourself with him. You cannot, without peril to your soul, disregard this divine injunction.—Testimonies for the Church 5:364 (1885).
The Forbidden Ground of Unholy Fancies (counsel to a minister)—You have been represented to me as being in great peril. Satan is on your track, and at times he has whispered to you pleasing fables and has shown you charming pictures of one whom he represents as a more suitable companion for you than the wife of your youth, the mother of your children.
Satan is working stealthily, untiringly, to effect your downfall through his specious temptations. He is determined to become your teacher, and you need now to place yourself where you can get strength to resist him. He hopes to lead you into the mazes of spiritualism. He hopes to wean your affections from your wife and to fix them upon another woman. He desires that you will allow your mind to dwell upon this woman until through unholy affection she becomes your god.
The enemy of souls has gained much when he can lead the imagination of one of Jehovah’s chosen watchmen to dwell upon the possibilities of association, in the world to come, with some woman whom he loves, and of there raising up a family. We need no such pleasing pictures. All such views originate in the mind of the tempter….
It is presented to me that spiritual fables are taking many captive. Their minds are sensual, and unless a change comes, this will prove their ruin. To all who are indulging these unholy fancies, I would say, Stop; for Christ’s sake, stop right where you are. You are on forbidden ground. Repent, I entreat of you, and be converted.—Letter 231, 1903.
Free Love—I have seen the results of these fanciful [spiritualistic and pantheistic] views of God, in apostasy, spiritualism, and free-lovism. The free-love tendency of these teachings was so concealed that at first it was difficult to make plain its real character. Until the Lord presented it to me, I knew not what to call it, but I was instructed to call it unholy spiritual love.—Testimonies for the Church 8:292 (1904).
Love Is Not Sentimentalism—The love and sympathy which Jesus would have us give to others does not savor of sentimentalism, which is a snare to the soul; it is a love that is of heavenly extraction, which Jesus exemplifies by both precept and example. But instead of manifesting this love, how often we are alienated and estranged one from another…. The result is estrangement from God, a dwarfed experience, a blighting of Christian growth.—The Youth’s Instructor, October 20, 1892. (Sons and Daughters of God, 147.)
Counterfeit Identified—We are admonished by the apostle: “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another” (Romans 12:9, 10). Paul would have us distinguish between the pure, unselfish love which is prompted by the spirit of Christ, and the unmeaning, deceitful pretense with which the world abounds.
This base counterfeit has misled many souls. It would blot out the distinction between right and wrong, by agreeing with the transgressor instead of faithfully showing him his errors. Such a course never springs from real friendship. The spirit by which it is prompted dwells only in the carnal heart. While the Christian will be ever kind, compassionate, and forgiving, he can feel no harmony with sin. He will abhor evil and cling to that which is good, at the sacrifice of association or friendship with the ungodly. The spirit of Christ will lead us to hate sin, while we are willing to make any sacrifice to save the sinner.—Testimonies for the Church 5:171 (1882).
Selecting a Companion—Let a young woman accept as a life companion only one who possesses pure, manly traits of character, one who is diligent, aspiring, and honest, one who loves and fears God. Let a young man seek one to stand by his side who is fitted to bear her share of life’s burdens, one whose influence will ennoble and refine him and who will make him happy in her love.—The Ministry of Healing, 359 (1905)
https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/77.1527#1571
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for the privilege of prayer and for knowing that through the name of Your Son we may expect what we ask, because we ask according to Your will to be like Jesus. Please bless us to commit to doing right with the motive of divine love: overcoming every tendency to sin against You. Please grant to us a pure, wholesome, consistent Christian life, which is obtained by daily studying Your Word, the Holy Bible, under the guidance of Your Holy Spirit, to behold and reflect the character of Jesus to each other and to the world. Like Jesus, please bless us to not be conformed to this world, but to be truly transformed into the persons You would have us be, working fully in the service of the King: Jesus. Please bless us truly to contemplate the life of Christ and to allow Your Word to develop within us that true religion, borne of love, which ennobles the mind, refines the taste, sanctifies the judgment, and makes us patient partakers of the vibrant health, purity, and holiness of Heaven. Because we ask all these in the Awesome name of Your Son, Almighty Jesus the Christ, our Savior, we say Thank You and Amen.
DID YOU KNOW THIS…?
It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.—Psalm 118:8 KJV —[The WORD OF GOD—It’s the only flesh that is safe to eat (meditate on) to live forever!]
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TODAY is the SABBATH
Isaiah 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Isaiah 58:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
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Therefore, if at any time you fail to receive this post as a text, please visit
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where devotionals are first posted daily (almost without fail). From there devotionals are publicly shared to my page on FB, LinkedIn, and Signal (in My Story), and to a response-restricted group on WhatsApp (once again when I am able to find the time to successfully rebuild it).
NOTE: These began as daily texts to encourage my academy roommate and dear friend of nearly 50 years, until she suddenly passed March 2023. Now I continue to compile and send them to anyone who will receive them and to her family in honor of their mom. Lately, I have begun featuring consecutive chapter portions of a select Bible-based book.
If you agree to continue receiving them, then this is my personal gift to you; and in this way, I not only honor God but the memory of a very dear friend whom I desperately miss.
My personal prayer is that God will bless me to find ways to multiply this gift, so that we all may be encouraged to be found faithful in the sight of a Holy God, whenever Christ returns or our eyes are shut in the sleep of death.
It is a prayerful process that leads me to share from my personal study.
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