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Mind, Character, and Personality Volume 2
terms of man’s use of every gift of God. He will bless the proper use
of every power put forth for His own name’s glory.
The talent of speech, of memory, of property—all are to accumulate
for the glory of God, to advance His kingdom. God has left us in charge
of His goods in His absence. Each steward has his own special work
to do in advancing God’s kingdom. Not one is excused.—Lt 44, 1900.
(HC 40.)
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God Gives Talents, Man Cultivates the Mind—We are to culti-
vate the talents given us by God. They are His gifts and are to be used
in their right relation to each other so as to make a perfect whole. God
gives the talents, the powers of the mind; man makes the character.
The mind is the Lord’s garden, and man must cultivate it earnestly
in order to form a character after the divine similitude.—Lt 73, 1899.
(HC 106)
Inability Produced by Inactivity—Many who excuse themselves
from Christian effort plead their inability for the work. But did God
make them so incapable? No, never. This inability has been produced
by their own inactivity and perpetuated by their deliberate choice.
Already, in their own characters, they are realizing the result of the
sentence, “Take therefore the talent from him.”
The continual misuse of their talents will effectually quench for
them the Holy Spirit, which is the only light. The sentence, “Cast ye
the unprofitable servant into outer darkness” (
Matthew 25:30
), sets
Heaven’s seal to the choice which they themselves have made for
eternity.—
Christ’s Object Lessons, 365
(1900).
To Be a Blending of Diverse Elements—Unity in diversity is
God’s plan. Among the followers of Christ there is to be the blending
of diverse elements, one adapted to the other, and each to do its special
work for God. Every individual has his place in the filling up of one
great plan bearing the stamp of Christ’s image.... One is fitted to do
a certain work, another has a different work for which he is adapted,
another has a still different line; but each is to be the complement of
the others. The Spirit of God, working in and through the diverse
elements, will produce harmony of action.... There is to be only one
master spirit—the Spirit of Him who is infinite in wisdom, and in
whom all the diverse elements meet in beautiful, matchless unity.—Lt
78, 1894. (HC 169.)
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