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Christian Service
accomplish the work God has given us to do. By allowing ourselves to
form wrong habits, by keeping late hours, by gratifying appetite at the
expense of health, we lay the foundation for feebleness. By neglecting
physical exercise, by overworking mind or body, we unbalance the
nervous system. Those who thus shorten their lives unfit themselves
for service by disregarding nature’s laws, are guilty of robbery toward
God. And they are robbing their fellow men also. The opportunity
of blessing others, the very work for which God sent them into the
world, has by their own course of action been cut short. And they have
unfitted themselves to do even that which in a briefer period of time
they might have accomplished. The Lord holds us guilty when by our
injurious habits we thus deprive the world of good.—
Christ’s Object
Lessons, 346, 347
.
Our God is ever merciful, full of compassion, and reasonable in all
His requirements. He does not require that we shall pursue a course
of action that will result in the loss of our health or the enfeeblement
of our powers of mind. He would not have us work under a pressure
and strain until exhaustion follows, and prostration of the nerves. The
Lord has given us reason, and He expects that we shall exercise reason,
and act in harmony with the laws of life implanted within us, obeying
them that we may have a well-balanced organization. Day follows
day, and each day brings its responsibilities and duties, but the work of
tomorrow must not be crowded into today. The workers in the cause
of God should feel how sacred is its character, and they should prepare
themselves for tomorrow’s work by a judicious employment of their
powers today.—
The Review and Herald, November 7, 1893
.
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Rest and Reflection
The disciples of Jesus needed to be educated as to how they should
labor, and how they should rest. Today there is need that God’s chosen
workmen should listen to the command of Christ to go apart and rest
awhile. Many valuable lives have been sacrificed, that need not have
been, through ignorance of this command.... Though the harvest is
great and the laborers are few, nothing is gained by sacrificing health
and life.... There are many feeble, worn workmen who feel deeply
distressed when they see how much there is to be done, and how little
they can do. How they long for physical strength to accomplish more;