Work and Education
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what it means to love God with the heart, the soul, the mind, and the
strength. The physical powers are to be brought into service from love
to God. The Lord wants the physical strength, and you can reveal your
love for Him by the right use of your physical powers, doing the very
work which needs to be done. There is no respect of persons with God.
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When the tabernacle was built in the wilderness for the service of
God, the work was done under divine direction. God was the designer,
the workmen were educated by Him, and they put heart and soul and
strength into the work. There was hard labor to be done, and the sturdy
mechanic taxed muscle and sinew, manifesting his love to God in the
toil for His honor.
There is in the world a great deal of hard, taxing work to be done,
and he who labors without exercising the God-given powers of mind
and heart and soul, he who employs the physical strength alone, makes
the work a wearisome tax and burden. There are men with mind, heart,
and soul who regard work as a drudgery, and settle down to it with
self-complacent ignorance, delving without thought, without taxing
the mental capabilities in order to do the work better.
There is science in the humblest kind of work, and if all would thus
regard it, they would see nobility in labor. Heart and soul are to be
put into work of any kind; then there is cheerfulness and efficiency. In
agricultural or mechanical occupations men may give evidence to God
that they appreciate His gift in the physical powers, and the mental
faculties as well. Let the educated ability be employed in devising
improved methods of work. This is what the Lord wants. There is
honor in any class of work that is essential to be done. Let the law
of God be made the standard of action, and it ennobles and sanctifies
all labor. Faithfulness in the discharge of every duty makes the work
noble, and reveals a character that God can approve.
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.” God
desires the love that is expressed in heart-service, in soul-service, in the
service of the physical powers. We are not to be dwarfed in any kind
of service for God Whatever He has lent us is to be used intelligently
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for Him. The man who exercises his faculties will surely strengthen
them, but he must seek to do his best. There is need of intelligence
and educated ability to devise the best methods in farming, in building,
and in every other department, that the worker may not labor in vain.