Obedience Follows New Birth

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 1 John 5:3.

We are to give ourselves to Christ, to live a life of willing obedience to all His requirements. All that we are, all the talents and capabilities we possess, are the Lord’s, to be consecrated to His service. When we thus give ourselves wholly to Him, Christ, with all the treasures of heaven, gives Himself to us. We obtain the pearl of great price.—Christ’s Object Lessons, 116.

Remember, you have a Heaven to gain, an open path to perdition to shun. God means what He says. When He prohibited our first parents from eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge, their disobedience opened the floodgates of woe to the whole world. If we walk contrary to God, He will walk contrary to us. Our only safe course is to render obedience to all His requirements at whatever cost. All are founded in infinite love and wisdom.—Testimonies for the Church 5:365.

The young should be controlled by firm principle, that they may rightly improve the powers which God has given them. But youth follow impulse so much and so blindly, without reference to principle, that they are constantly in danger. Since they cannot always have the guidance and protection of parents and guardians, they need to be trained to self-reliance and self-control. They must be taught to think and act from conscientious principle.—Messages to Young People, 379.

It is through the power and prevalence of truth that we must be sanctified, and elevated to the true dignity of the standard set forth in the Word. The way of the Lord can be learned only through most careful obedience to His Word. Study the Word.—Messages to Young People, 391.