Choosing Your Destiny
This evening we are going to address the subject of associations and how the people that you choose to associate with will affect your life on this earth and in the life to come. We will also discuss how whom you associate with can affect your health and wellbeing. In Messages to Young People pg. 31, Ellen White makes a statement about associations, and the affect they can have on your life.
“O that every one might realize that he is the arbiter of his own destiny! Your happiness for this life, and for the future, immortal life lies with yourself.” MYP pg.31
So who has control of your own destiny? You do. No one else can do this for you because they cannot make your choices and decisions for you. Even God cannot make your choices. Later on in the same passage it says, “If you choose, you may have associates who, by their influence, will cheapen your thoughts, your words, and your morals. You can give loose rein to appetite and passion, despise authority, use coarse language, and degrade yourself to the lowest level.” So you should be careful that the friends you choose to associate with are being a good influence on you and not a hindrance to your spiritual life. In Mt 12:35 it says, "A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things” So what you sow that shall you also reap. So if you are associating with good men and women they will bring forth good things that will help you in your Christian experience but if you are always in the presence of evil company they will corrupt you and you will begin to bring forth evil things that will become a stumbling block not only to you but to others also. Not only can the people you associate with corrupt your own character and become a bad influence on you, but they can also damage your influence for good. Thus hindering your witness for God. Continuing in messages to young people pg. 31 it says:
“Your
“O that every one might realize that he is the arbiter of his own destiny! Your happiness for this life, and for the future, immortal life lies with yourself.” MYP pg.31
So who has control of your own destiny? You do. No one else can do this for you because they cannot make your choices and decisions for you. Even God cannot make your choices. Later on in the same passage it says, “If you choose, you may have associates who, by their influence, will cheapen your thoughts, your words, and your morals. You can give loose rein to appetite and passion, despise authority, use coarse language, and degrade yourself to the lowest level.” So you should be careful that the friends you choose to associate with are being a good influence on you and not a hindrance to your spiritual life. In Mt 12:35 it says, "A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things” So what you sow that shall you also reap. So if you are associating with good men and women they will bring forth good things that will help you in your Christian experience but if you are always in the presence of evil company they will corrupt you and you will begin to bring forth evil things that will become a stumbling block not only to you but to others also. Not only can the people you associate with corrupt your own character and become a bad influence on you, but they can also damage your influence for good. Thus hindering your witness for God. Continuing in messages to young people pg. 31 it says:
“Your