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Testimonies for the Church Volume 6
God has given to parents and teachers the work of educating the
children and youth in these lines, and from every act of their lives
they may be taught spiritual lessons. While training them in habits of
physical cleanliness we should teach them that God desires them to be
clean in heart as well as in body. While sweeping a room they may
learn how the Lord purifies the heart. They would not close the doors
and windows and leave in the room some purifying substance, but
would open the doors and throw wide the windows, and with diligent
effort expel all the dust. So the windows of impulse and feeling must
be opened toward heaven, and the dust of selfishness and earthliness
must be expelled. The grace of God must sweep through the chambers
of the mind, and every element of the nature must be purified and
vitalized by the Spirit of God. Disorder and untidiness in daily duties
will lead to forgetfulness of God and to keeping the form of godliness
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in a profession of faith, having lost the reality. We are to watch and
pray, else we shall grasp the shadow and lose the substance.
A living faith like threads of gold should run through the daily
experience in the performance of little duties. Then students will be
led to understand the pure principles which God designs shall prompt
every act of their lives. Then all the daily work will be of such a
character as to promote Christian growth. Then the vital principles
of faith, trust, and love for Jesus will penetrate into the most minute
details of daily life. There will be a looking unto Jesus, and love for
Him will be the continual motive, giving vital force to every duty that
is undertaken. There will be a striving after righteousness, a hope that
“maketh not ashamed.” Whatever is done will be done to the glory of
God.
To each student in the home I would say, Be true to home duties.
Be faithful in the discharge of little responsibilities. Be a real living
Christian in the home. Let Christian principles rule your heart and
control your conduct. Heed every suggestion made by the teacher,
but do not make it a necessity always to be told what to do. Discern
for yourself. Notice for yourself if all things in your own room are
spotless and in order, that nothing there may be an offense to God, but
that when holy angels shall pass through your room, they may be led
to linger because attracted by the prevailing order and cleanliness. In
doing your duties promptly, neatly, faithfully, you are missionaries.
You are bearing witness for Christ. You are showing that the religion