To Teachers and Students
189
done to the glory of God. I cannot find an instance in the life of Christ
where He devoted time to play and amusement. He was the great
Educator for the present and the future life. I have not been able to
find one instance where He educated His disciples to engage in amuse-
ment of football or pugilistic games, to obtain physical exercise, or in
theatrical performances; and yet Christ was our pattern in all things.
Christ, the world’s Redeemer, gave to every man his work and bids
them “occupy till I come.” And in doing His work, the heart warms
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to such an enterprise, and all the powers of the soul are enlisted in a
work assigned of the Lord and Master. It is a high and important work.
The Christian teacher and student are enabled to become stewards of
the grace of Christ, and be always in earnest.
All they can do for Jesus is to be in earnest, having a burning desire
to show their gratitude to God in the most diligent discharge of every
obligation that is laid upon them, that, by their fidelity to God, they
may respond to the great and wonderful gift of the only-begotten Son
of God, that through faith in Him they should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
There is need of each one in every school and in every institution,
being, as was Daniel, in such close connection with the Source of
all wisdom, that his prayers will enable him to reach the highest
standard of his duties in every line, that he may be able to fulfill his
scholastic requirements not only under able teachers, but also under
the supervision of heavenly intelligences, knowing that the All-seeing,
the Ever-sleepless Eye was upon him. The love and fear of God was
before Daniel, and he educated and trained all his powers to respond as
far as possible to the loving care of the Great Teacher, conscious of his
amenability to God. The four Hebrew children would not allow selfish
motives and love of amusements to occupy the golden moments of
this life. They worked with a willing heart and ready mind. This is no
higher standard than every Christian may attain. God requires of every
Christian scholar more than has been given him. Ye are “a spectacle
unto the world, and to angels, and to men.”—
Special Testimonies On
Education, October, 1893
.
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