Powerful EGW Quotes on 7 Areas of Marriage

Here are powerful, memorable principles for marriage and parenting, rooted in the absolute necessity of home religion and Christlike character.

1) Having God at the Center of Your Home

• The religion of Christ is not to be reserved for certain places, for by your home life Jesus will measure your religious life13MR 80.1.

• Family religion is a wonderful power, making the home life a preparation for entrance to the family above17LtMs, Lt 57, 1902, par. 15.

2) Communication

• Knowing how to address members of the household is one of the finest and most elevating branches of educationVSS 34.3.

• One should check the impatient word before it is uttered, for the right use of speech enters into every line of Christian work4bSG 95.1+1.

3) Conflict Resolution

• Both husband and wife should be yielding, but the word of God gives preference to the judgment of the husband to maintain peace4bSG 95.1+1.

• Through love and self-discipline, all members of the family may be bound together in the closest union despite different charactersCE 229.3.

4) Finances

• The cause of God must not be sapped to support large families where parents have failed to practice diligence and economy8MR 414.2+1.

• Do not keep money-making before your children as the great object of life, for a Christlike character is worth more than all else18MR 122.4.

5) Emotional Intimacy

• Gentle manners, cheerful conversation, and loving acts bind the hearts of children and parents by silken cords of affectionAH 426.4.

• The husband and wife should study the effect of their words, lest they leave a blight or a clouded brow instead of encouragement4bSG 95.1+1.

6) Physical Intimacy

• The quality of food and wrong habits of diet can excite animal passions and weaken the moral and intellectual facultiesSA 129.1.

• Strict rules are indispensable to guard the youth from the danger of premature courtship and unwise marriage before the judgment is matureFE 62.2.

7) Parenting

• Parenting has large spiritual implications, as a godly example is far more potent than precept in training childrenPCP 50.1.

• Teach children that they are to be managed and not to manage, for to allow a child to follow natural impulses is to allow them to deteriorateCG 186.3+1.

...hatever will make the character lovely in the home will make it lovely in the heavenly mansion, and by your home life Jesus will measure your religious life. The grace of Christ can make your home a place of peace and rest, but unless you heed His Word and...— 13MR 80.1 (1990)

...eech a Living Machinery—One of the finest and most elevating branches of education is that of knowing how to address members of the household, that the influence of the words spoken will be pure and incorruptible. The proper conversation of a Christian is that which will enable him to interchange ideas. Loud-voiced words, that help and bless no one, might better be changed for words of good, elevated, enlightened common sense. This line of work is the greatest missionary enterprise in which any Christian can engage. Those who use the organs of speech as the living machinery of Go...— VSS 34.3 (1988)

... command of their own spirit, and not speak fretfully or impatiently. The husband and father should check that impatient word he is about to utter. He should study the effect of his words, lest they leave sadness and a blight. I have also been shown that there is often a great failure upon the part of the wife. She does not make strong efforts to control her own spirit, and make home happy. There is often fretfulness, and unnecessary complaining on her part. The husband comes home from his labor weary and perplexed, and often meets a clouded brow, instead of cheerful, encouraging words. He is mortal, and his affections become weaned from his wife, he loses the love of his home, his pathway is darkened, and his courage gone. He yields his self-respect, and that dignity which God requires him to maintain. The husband is the head of the family, as Christ is the head of the church, and any course which the wife may pursue to lessen his influence and lead him to come down from the dignified, responsible position God would have him occupy, displeases God. It is the duty of the wife to yield her wishes and will to her husband. Both should be yielding, but preference is given in the word of God to the judgment...— 4bSG 95.1 (1864)

Parents, do not keep money-making before your children as the great object of life. Tell them that the formation of a Christlike character is worth more than all else. Tell them that they are Christ's blood-bought heritage, and that ...— 18MR 122.4 (1990)

...ristian training? Parents should be responsible. Teach them control; teach them that they are to be managed, and not to manage.9Manuscript 9, 1893— CG 186.3 (1954)

...of the husband toward the wife and of the wife toward the husband may be such that it will make the home life a preparation for entrance to the family above— 17LtMs, Lt 57, 1902, par. 15