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We shall Reap What we have Sown, October 13
The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to
teach, patient.
2 Timothy 2:24
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Those who are truly connected with God will not be at variance with one
another. The spirit of harmony, peace, and love, His Spirit ruling in their hearts,
will create harmony, love, and unity. The opposite of this works in the children of
Satan; there is with them a continual contradiction. Strife and envy and jealousy
are the ruling elements. The characteristic of the Christian is the meekness of
Christ. Benevolence, kindness, mercy, and love originate from Infinite Wisdom,
while the opposite is the unholy fruit of a heart that is not in harmony with Jesus
Christ....
What a work is this—the education of children! ... If the parents had studied
more of Christ and less of the world, if they had cared less to imitate the customs
and fashions of the present age, and devoted time and painstaking effort to mold
the minds and characters of their children after the divine Model, then they could
send them forth with moral integrity to be carried forward in the branches of
education to qualify them for any position of trust....
The harvest is ours, to reap that which we have sown. If you sow distrust,
envy, jealousy, self-love, bitterness of thought and feelings, this harvest you will
be sure to reap. This will be a sowing of dragon’s teeth to reap the same.
If you manifest kindness, love, tender thoughtfulness to your students, you will
reap the same in return. If teachers are severe, critical, overbearing, not sensitive
of others’ feelings, they will receive the same in return. A man who wishes to
preserve his self-respect and dignity must be careful not to sacrifice the respect
and dignity of others. This rule should be sacredly observed toward the dullest,
the youngest, and most blundering scholars.
What God will do with these apparently uninteresting youth, you do not know.
God has accepted and chosen, in the past, just such specimens to do a great work
for Him. His Spirit, operating upon the heart, has acted like an electric battery,
arousing the apparently benumbed faculties to vigorous and persevering action.
The Lord saw in these rough, uninteresting, unhewn stones precious metal that
will endure the test of storm and tempest and the fiery ordeal of heat. God seeth
not as man seeth; God judgeth not as man judgeth—He searcheth the heart....
The younger members of the Lord’s family shall be impressed that they are
created in the image of their Maker, and that their spirit must represent the spirit
of Christ.—
Manuscript 2, 1881
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