'I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the
word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked
one.'--1 John ii. 14.
'What am I going to be?' is the question that presses upon young people
stepping out of the irresponsibilities of childhood into youth. But,
unfortunately, the question is generally supposed to be answered when
they have fixed upon a trade or profession. It means, rightly taken, a
great deal more than that. 'What am I going to make of myself?' 'What
ideal have I before me, towards which I constantly press?' is a question
that I would fain lay upon the hearts of all that now hear me. For the
misery and the reason of the failure of so many lives is simply that
people have never fairly looked that question in the face and tried to
answer it, but drift and drift, and let circumstances determine them.
And, of course, in a world like this, such people are sure to turn out
what such an immense number of people do turn out, failures as far as
all God's purposes with humanity are concerned. The absence of a clear
ideal is the misery and the loss of all young people who do not possess
it.
So here in my text is an old man's notion of what young men ought to be
and may be. 'Ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye
have overcome the wicked one.'
So said the aged John to some amongst his hearers in these corrupt
Asiatic cities. It was not merely a fair ideal painted upon vacancy, but
it was a portrait of actual young Christians in these little Asiatic
churches. And I would fain have some of you take this realised ideal for
yours and see to it that your lives be conformed to it.
There are three points here. The Apostle, first of all, lays his finger
upon the strength, which is something more than mere physical strength,
proper to youth. Then he lets us see the secret source of that strength:
'Ye have the word of God abiding in you.' And then he shows the field on
which it should be exercised, and the victory which it secures: 'And ye
have overcome the wicked one.' Now let me touch upon these three points
briefly in succession.
I. First, then, note here the strength which you young people ought to
covet and to aim at.
It is not merely the physical strength proper to their age, nor the mere
unworn buoyancy and vigour which sorrows and care and responsibilities
have not thinned and weakened. These are great and precious gifts. We
never know how precious they are until they have slipped away from us.
These are great and precious gifts, to be preserved as long as may be,
by purity and by moderation, and to be used for high and great purposes.
But the strength that is in thews and muscles is not the strength that
the Apostle is speaking about here, nor anything that belongs simply to
the natural stage of your development, whether it be purely physical or
purely mental. Samson was a far weaker man than the poor little Jew
'whose bodily presence was weak and his speech contemptible,' and who
all his days carried about with him that 'thorn in the flesh.' It is not
your body that is to be strong, but yourselves.
Now the foundation of all true strength lies here, in a good, strong
will. In this world, unless a man has learned to say 'No!' and to say it
very decidedly, and to stick to it, he will never come to any good. Two
words contain the secret of noble life: '_Resist!_' and '_Persist!_' And
the true strength of manhood lies in this mainly, that, in spite of all
antagonisms, hindrances, voices, and things that array themselves
against you, having greatly resolved, you do greatly do what you have
resolved, and having said 'I will!' let neither men nor devils lead you
to say, 'I will not.' Depend upon it, that to be weak in this direction
is to be weak all through. Strong passions make weak men. And a strong
will is the foundation, in this wicked and antagonistic world in which
we live, of all real strength.
But then the strength that I would have you seek, and strive to
cultivate, must be a strength of will founded upon strong reason.
Determination unenlightened is obstinacy, and obstinacy is weakness. A
mule can beat you at that: 'Be ye not as the mule, which have no
understanding.' A determination which does not take into its view all
the facts of the case, nor is influenced by these, has no right to call
itself strength. It is only, to quote a modern saying--I know not
whether true of the person to whom it was originally applied or no--is
'only a lath painted to look like iron.' Unintelligent obstinacy is
folly, like the conduct of some man who sticks to his pick and his task
in a quarry after the bugle has warned him of an impending explosion,
which will blow him to atoms.
But that is not all. A strong will, illuminated by a strong beam of
light from the understanding, must be guided and governed by a strong
hand put forth by Conscience. 'I should like' is the weakling's motto.
'I will' may be an obstinate fool's motto. 'I ought, therefore, God
helping me, and though the devil hinders me, I will,' is a man's.
Conscience is king. To obey it is to be free; to neglect it is to be a
slave.
Is not this a better ideal for life than gathering any outward
possessions, however you may succeed therein? A thousand things will
have to be taken into account, and may help or may hinder outward
prosperity and success. But nobody can hinder you working at your
character and succeeding in making it what it ought to be; and to form
character is the end of life. 'To be weak is miserable, doing or
suffering.' Ay! that is true, though Milton put it into the devil's
mouth. And there is only one strength that will last, 'for even the
youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fail.'
But the strength of a fixed and illuminated and conscience-guided will,
which governs the man and is governed by God, shall never faint or grow
weak. This is the strength which we should seek, and which I ask you to
make the conscious aim of your lives.