True Power by F. G.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Apr 12, 1906

True Power

By F. G.

EVERY teacher should bear in mind the value of power in his work. The successful man in any enterprise is he who possesses powerful personal attributes. No better illustration of this can be given than that of Christ. All Judea and Jerusalem went forth to hear his words, and they listened to his teachings of truth with the profoundest attention. He spoke as one having authority. There was attending his every work, his every word, a power which was unexplainable. His voice, gentle, rich, melodious, was in itself a source of the greatest authority.

He was apparently unconscious of this power. He certainly made no effort to exert it. He sought to do only those things which were helpful. He said that he could speak and do only that which was given him of his Father. There consequently came into his life that great strength which enabled him to do good on all occasions; and because this power was used for good, there was in all the manifestations of it nothing selfish or personal. It was this unselfish spirit and this thoughtfulness of others that made Christ the Great Teacher. It is the same spirit of goodness, the same thoughtfulness, which makes each teacher of children and youth great in his work. When he comes to the place where he has no thought, no ambition, but to uplift and help those whom he teaches, when he recognizes that success means to teach in such a manner as to develop manhood and womanhood rather than to accumulate facts, and when he continually receives his power for such work from above, then, and then only, is one truly a teacher. F. G.