Teachers need an intimate acquaintance with the word of God. The Bible, and the Bible alone, should be their counselor. The word of God is as the leaves of the tree of life. Here is met every want of those who love its teachings and bring them into the practical life. Many of the students who come to our schools are unconverted, though they may have been baptized. They do not know what it means to be sanctified through a belief of the truth. They should be taught to search and understand the Bible, to receive its truths into the heart and carry them out in the daily life. Thus they will become strong in the Lord; for spiritual sinew and muscle are nourished by the bread of life.
The Lord desires His stewards to discharge their duties faithfully, in His name and in His strength. By believing His word and acting upon its teachings, they may go on conquering and to conquer.47But when men depart from the principles of righteousness, they conceive a high opinion of their own goodness and abilities, and unconsciously they exalt themselves. The Lord allows such ones to walk alone, to follow their own way. Thus He gives them opportunity to see themselves as they are, and to manifest to others their weakness. He is seeking to teach them that the Lord’s way is always to be closely followed, that His word is to be taken as it reads, and that men are not to devise and plan according to their own judgment, irrespective of His counsel.
Our schools are to be as the schools of the prophets. In them the truths of the Bible are to be earnestly studied. If rightly brought before the mind, and thoughtfully dwelt upon, these truths will give the students a desire for that which is infinitely higher than worldly amusement. As they draw near to God, becoming partakers of the divine nature, earth-born amusements will sink into nothingness. The minds of the students will take a higher turn, and beholding the character of Jesus, they will strive to be like Him.
USEFUL EMPLOYMENT VERSUS SELFISH PLEASURE
Students are sent to our schools to receive an education that will enable them to go forth as workers in God’s cause. Satan would lead them to believe that amusements are necessary to physical health, but the Lord has declared that the better way is for them to get physical exercise through manual training, and by letting useful employment take the place of selfish pleasure. The desire for amusement, if indulged, soon develops a dislike for useful, healthful exercise of body and mind, such as will make students efficient in helping themselves and others. In the place of providing diversions that merely amuse, arrangements should be made for exercises that will be productive of good.
God bestows talents upon men, not that these talents may lie unused or be employed in self-gratification, but that they may be used to bless others. God grants men the gift of time for the purpose of promoting His glory. When this time is used in selfish pleasure, the hours thus spent are lost for all eternity.
The Lord calls upon all who claim to have received Christ as their personal Saviour, to obey the words, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” “We are laborers together with God; ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.” “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
EMPLOYMENT FOR PATIENTS
Plans should be devised for keeping patients out of doors. For those who are able to work, let some pleasant, easy employment be provided. Show them how agreeable and helpful this outdoor work is. Encourage them to breathe the fresh air. Teach them to breathe deeply, and in breathing and speaking, to exercise the abdominal muscles. This is an education that will be invaluable to them.
Exercise in the open air should be prescribed as a life-giving necessity. And for such exercises there is nothing better than the cultivation of the soil. Let patients have flower beds to care for, or work to do in the orchard or vegetable garden. As they are encouraged to leave their rooms and spend time in the open air, cultivating flowers or doing49some other light, pleasant work, their attention will be diverted from themselves and their sufferings.— “Ministry of Healing,” pages 264, 265.
PHYSICAL EXERCISE AS A REMEDIAL AGENCY
Physical exercise and labor combined have a happy influence upon the mind, strengthen the muscles, improve the circulation, and give the invalid the satisfaction of knowing his own power of endurance; whereas, if he is restricted from healthful exercise and physical labor, his attention is turned to himself. He is in constant danger of thinking himself worse than he really is, and of having established within him a diseased imagination, which causes him continually to fear that he is overtaxing his powers of endurance. As a general thing, if he would engage in some well-directed labor, using his strength and not abusing it, he would find that physical exercise would prove a more powerful and effective agent in his recovery than even the water treatment he is receiving.—“Testimonies,” Vol. IV, page 94.
PHYSICAL LABOR AN AID TO RECOVERY
Such mental exercise as playing cards, chess, and checkers, excites and wearies the brain and hinders recovery; while light and pleasant physical labor will occupy the time, improve the circulation, relieve and restore the brain, and prove a decided benefit to the health. But take from the invalid all such employment, and he becomes restless, and, with a diseased imagination, views his case as much worse than it really is, which tends to imbecility.
For years I have from time to time been shown50that the sick should be taught that it is wrong to suspend all physical labor in order to regain health. In thus doing the will becomes dormant, the blood moves sluggishly through the system, and constantly grows more impure. Where the patient is in danger of imagining his case worse than it really is, indolence will be sure to produce the most unhappy results. Well-regulated labor gives the invalid the idea that he is not totally useless in the world, that he is, at least, of some benefit. This will afford him satisfaction, give him courage, and impart to him vigor, which vain mental amusements can never do. —“Testimonies,” Vol. I, page 555.
SUBSTITUTES FOR AMUSEMENTS
In each one of our schools Satan will seek to become the guide of teachers and students. He will introduce the thought that amusements are essential. He would be pleased to have students who are preparing to become missionaries, accept the idea that amusements are essential to health.
But the Lord has provided a better way. He has given us useful employments for the development of health, and these useful employments will also qualify students to be a help to themselves and to others.—Review and Herald, Vol. 75, No. 43, 1898.
SEPARATE FROM THE WORLD
God's people are His chosen instrumentalities for the enlargement of His church in the earth. They are to seek the counsel of God. Worldly amusements and entertainments are to have no place in the life of the Christian. In following the way of the51Lord is to be the strength of His people. Their faith in the gift of God's only begotten Son is to be made manifest. This will make its impression on the mind of the worldling. He who takes his position as separate from the world, and strives to become one with Christ, will be successful in drawing souls to God. The graces of Christ will be so apparent in his life, that the world will take knowledge of him that he has been with Jesus and learned of Him.
“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” Let every one who claims to be a child of the heavenly King seek constantly to represent the principles of the kingdom of God. Let each remember that in spirit, in words, and in works he is to be loyal and true to all the precepts and commandments of the Lord. We are to be faithful, trustworthy subjects of the kingdom of Christ, that those who are worldly wise may have a true representation of the riches, the goodness, the mercy, the tenderness, and the courtesy of the citizens of the kingdom of God.—MS., 1907.