Your loving friend,
H. S. L.
PRIZE ESSAY.
How to Live Well.
We cannot live well without we acknowledge God in all our ways. A Christian cannot exist without prayer. Thus, in 1 Thessalonians v. 17, it says, "Pray without ceasing," which shows us that we cannot live well without prayer. To live well also means that we should obey and honour our parents, as enjoined in Ephesians vi. 1, 2, and make ourselves useful to those that surround us. And, in 2 Thessalonians iii. 13, it says, "Brethren, be not weary in well doing." Jesus Christ has also set a pattern, for He was always doing good. He even came into this world to die for sinners. As Jane Taylor says—
"Jesus, who lived above the sky,
Came down to be a Man, and die;
And in the Bible we may see
How very good He used to be.
"And so He died; and this is why
He came to be a Man, and die:
The Bible says He came from heaven
That sinners' sins might be forgiven."
If we are taught to live a Christian life—to trust in, and fear God—He will be sure to provide for our every want.
To live well is to try and always do the things that are just, treating people with respect, and to love those who hate us, and those who despitefully use us, for Jesus Christ's sake. He says, in John xv. 20, "Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My sayings, they will keep yours also." If we wish to live well, we must seek God in little things as well as in larger things; for He takes account of the thoughts, words, and actions of men, which are to be revealed at the last day.
Living well also means that we should do those things that are pleasing in God's sight; for if we love and serve Him truly, we shall be happy here and in the life to come, for the righteous Christ will gather as His jewels at the great judgment day, and they will be happy for evermore in that beautiful heaven which Jesus has prepared for those who love Him, and do His will; for Jesus says, in John xiv. 3, "If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
To live well is to live as expecting every day to be our last, and to be looking for that time when the trump of the archangel shall sound, and all the dead arise from their graves. We do not know the day, nor the hour, when the Son of Man shall come to judge the quick and the dead, for it says, in Matthew xxiv. 36, "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels in heaven, but My Father only."