The Ministry of Health and Healing

True education is missionary training. Every son and daughter of God is called to be a missionary. We are called to serve God and one another. To fit us for this service should be the object of our education.

This object should ever be kept in view by Christian parents and teachers. We know not in what line our children may serve. They may spend their lives within the circle of the home. They may engage in life’s common vocations or go as teachers of the gospel to heathen lands. But all are alike called to be missionaries for God, ministers of mercy to the world.

The children and youth, with their fresh talent, energy, courage, and quick susceptibilities, are loved of God, and He desires to bring them into harmony with divine agencies. They are to obtain an education that will help them stand by the side of Christ in unselfish service.

Of all His children to the close of time, no less than of the first disciples, Christ said, “‘As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world’” (John 17:18), to be representatives of God, to reveal His Spirit, to manifest His character, to do His work.

Our children stand, as it were, at the parting of the ways. On every hand the world’s enticements to self-seeking and self-indulgence call them away from the path that leads to the Holy City. Whether their lives shall be a blessing or a curse depends upon the choices they make. Overflowing with energy, eager to test their untried capabilities, they must find some outlet for their superabounding life. Active they will be for good or for evil.

God’s Word does not repress activity, but guides it aright. God does not tell the youth to be less aspiring. The elements of character that make a person truly successful and honored by peers—the irrepressible desire for some greater good, the indomitable will, the strenuous application, the untiring perseverance—are not to be discouraged. By the grace of God they are to be directed to the attainment of objects as much higher than selfish and worldly interests as the heavens are higher than the earth.

It rests with us as parents and as Christians to give our children right direction. They are to be carefully, wisely, tenderly guided into paths of Christlike ministry. We are under sacred covenant with God to rear our children for His service. Our first duty is to surround them with such influences as shall lead them to choose a life of service, and to give them the training needed.

“God so loved ... that He gave,” “gave His only begotten Son,” that we “should not perish but have everlasting life.” “Christ ... has loved us and given Himself for us.” If we love, we shall give. “Not ... to be served, but to serve” is the great lesson that we are to learn and teach. John 3:16; Ephesians 5:2; Matthew 20:28.

Impress the youth with the thought that they are not their own. They belong to Christ. They are the purchase of His blood, the claim of His love. They live because He keeps them by His power. Their time, their strength, their capabilities are His, to be developed, to be trained, to be used for Him.

Next to the angelic beings, the human family, formed in the image of God, are the noblest of His created works. God desires them to become all that He has made it possible for them to be, and to do their very best with the powers He has given them.

Life is mysterious and sacred. It is the manifestation of God Himself, the Source of all life. Precious are its opportunities. Earnestly should they be improved. Once lost, they are gone forever.

Before us God places eternity, with its solemn realities, and gives us a grasp on immortal, imperishable themes. He presents valuable, ennobling truth, that we may advance in a safe and sure path, in pursuit of an object worthy of the earnest engagement of all our capabilities.

God looks into the tiny seed that He Himself has formed, and sees wrapped within it the beautiful flower, the shrub, or the lofty, widespreading tree. So also He sees the possibilities in every human being. We are here for a purpose. God has given us His plan for our life, and He wants us to reach the highest standard of development.

He desires that we shall constantly be growing in holiness, in happiness, in usefulness. All have capabilities that they must be taught to regard as sacred endowments, to appreciate as the Lord’s gifts, and rightly to employ. He desires the youth to cultivate every power of their being and to bring every faculty into active exercise. He desires them to enjoy all that is useful and precious in this life, to be good and to do good, laying up a heavenly treasure for the future life.

It should be their ambition to excel in all things that are unselfish, high, and noble. Let them look to Christ as their Pattern. They are to cherish the holy ambition that He revealed in His life—an ambition to make the world better for their having lived in it. This is the work to which they are called.

A Broad Foundation

True education includes the whole being. It teaches the right use of one’s self. It enables us to make the best use of brain, bone, and muscle, of body, mind, and heart. The faculties of the mind, as the higher powers, are to rule the kingdom of the body. The natural appetites and passions are to be brought under the control of the conscience and the spiritual affections.

Christ stands at the head of humanity, and it is His purpose to lead us, in His service, into high and holy paths of purity. By the wondrous working of His grace we are to be made complete in Him.

Jesus received His education in the home. His mother was His first human teacher. From her lips and from the scrolls of the prophets, He learned of heavenly things. He lived in a peasant’s home, faithfully and cheerfully acting His part in bearing the household burdens. He who had been the commander of heaven was a willing servant, a loving, obedient son. He learned a trade and with His own hands worked in the carpenter’s shop with Joseph. In the garb of a common laborer He walked the streets of the little town, going to and returning from His humble work.

The people of that age estimated the value of things by outward show. As religion had declined in power, it had increased in pomp. The educators of the time sought to command respect by display and ostentation. To all this the life of Jesus presented a marked contrast. His life demonstrated the worthlessness of those things widely regarded as life’s great essentials. He did not attend the schools of His time, with their magnifying of things small and their belittling of things great. His education was gained from Heaven-appointed sources—useful work, study of the Scriptures, nature, and the experiences of life. These lesson books of God are full of instruction to all who bring to them the willing hand, the seeing eye, and the understanding heart.

“The Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.” Luke 2:40.

Thus prepared, He went forth to His mission, in every moment of His contact with men and women exerting upon them an influence to bless, a power to transform, such as the world had never witnessed.

The home is the child’s first school, and it is here that the foundation should be laid for a life of service. Its principles are to be taught not merely in theory; they are to shape the whole life training.

Very early the lesson of helpfulness should be taught to children. As soon as strength and reasoning power are sufficiently developed, children should be given duties to perform in the home. They should be encouraged to try helping father and mother, to deny and to control themselves, to put others’ happiness and convenience before their own, to watch for opportunities to cheer and assist brothers and sisters and playmates, and to show kindness to the aged, the sick, and the unfortunate. The more fully the spirit of true ministry pervades the home, the more fully it will be developed in the lives of the children. They will learn to find joy in service and sacrifice for the good of others.

The Work of the School

Above any other agency, service for Christ’s sake in the little things of everyday experience has power to mold the character and direct the life into lines of unselfish ministry. To awaken this spirit, to encourage and rightly to direct it, is the parents’ and the teachers’ work. No more important work could be committed to them. The spirit of ministry is the spirit of heaven, and angels will cooperate with every effort to develop and encourage it.

Such an education must be based upon the Word of God. Here only are its principles given in their fullness. The Bible should be made the foundation of study and of teaching. The essential knowledge is a knowledge of God and of Him whom He has sent.

Every child and every youth should have a knowledge of himself or herself. Both boys and girls should understand the physical habitation that God has given them and the laws by which it is kept in health. All should be thoroughly grounded in the common branches of education. And they should have industrial training that will make them men and women of practical ability, fitted for the duties of everyday life. To this should be added training and practical experience in various lines of missionary effort.

Learning by Imparting

In both the home and the school, students should learn how to study and how to impart the knowledge gained. Whatever their calling, they are to be both learners and teachers as long as life shall last. Thus they may advance continually, making God their trust, clinging to Him who is infinite in wisdom, who can reveal the secrets hidden for ages, who can solve the most difficult problems for minds that believe in Him.

God’s Word places great emphasis upon the influence of association, even upon mature people. How much greater is its power on the developing minds and characters of children and youth! The company they keep, the principles they adopt, the habits they form, will decide the question of their usefulness here and of their future, eternal interest.

It is a terrible fact, and one that should make the hearts of parents tremble, that in many schools and colleges to which the youth are sent for mental culture and discipline, influences prevail that misshape the character, divert the mind from life’s true aims, and debase the morals. Through contact with irreligious, pleasure loving, and corrupt associates, many youth lose the simplicity and purity, the faith in God, and the spirit of self-sacrifice that Christian fathers and mothers have cherished and guarded by careful instruction and earnest prayer.

Many who enter school with the purpose of fitting themselves for some line of unselfish ministry become absorbed in secular studies. Their ambition is aroused to win distinction in scholarship and to gain position and honor in the world. They lose sight of the purpose for which they entered school, and their life is given up to selfish and worldly pursuits. Often habits are formed that ruin the life both for this world and for the world to come.

As a rule, men and women who have broad ideas, unselfish purposes, noble aspirations, are those in whom these characteristics were developed by their associations in early years. In all His dealings with Israel, God urged upon them the importance of guarding the associations of their children. All the arrangements of civil, religious, and social life were made with a view to preserving the children from harmful companionship and making them, from their earliest years, familiar with the precepts and principles of the law of God. The object lesson given at the birth of the nation was of a nature to impress deeply all hearts.

Before the last terrible judgment came upon the Egyptians in the death of the first-born, God commanded His people to gather their children into their own homes. The doorpost of every house was marked with blood, and all were to abide within the protection assured by this token. So today parents who love and fear God are to keep their children under “the bond of the covenant”—within the protection of those sacred influences made possible through Christ’s redeeming blood.

Of His disciples Christ said, “‘I have given them Your word; and ... they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.’” John 17:14.

“Do not be conformed to this world,” God bids us, “but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2.

“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? ... And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’ Therefore ‘Come out from among them and be separate, ...

Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.’
‘I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the Lord Almighty.’”
2 Corinthians 6:14-18.

“‘Put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.’” Numbers 6:27. “‘All peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord.’” Deuteronomy 28:10.

“The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples,
Like dew from the Lord,
Like showers on the grass,
That tarry for no man
Nor wait for the sons of men.”
Micah 5:7.

Of the first disciples and of all who should believe on Him through their word Christ said, “‘The glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one; I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.’” John 17:22, 23.

Wonderful, wonderful words, almost beyond the grasp of faith! The Creator of all worlds loves those who give themselves to His service, even as He loves His Son. Even here and now His gracious favor is bestowed upon us to this marvelous extent. He has given us the Light and Majesty of heaven, and with Him He has bestowed all the heavenly treasure. Much as He has promised us rich rewards in the life to come, so also He bestows princely gifts in this life. As subjects of His grace, He desires us to enjoy everything that will ennoble, expand, and elevate our characters. He is waiting to inspire the youth with power from above, that they may stand under the blood-stained banner of Christ, to work as He worked, to lead souls into safe paths, to plant the feet of many upon the Rock of Ages.

All who are seeking to work in harmony with God’s plan of education will have His sustaining grace, His continual presence, His keeping power. To everyone He says:

“‘Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you.’” “‘I will not leave you nor forsake you.’” Joshua 1:9, 5.

“‘As the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
For you shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you.
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree,
And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree;
And it shall be to the Lord for a name,
For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.’”
Isaiah 55:10-13.

“They shall rebuild the old ruins,
They shall raise up the former desolations,
And they shall repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations.”
People shall call them “the Servants of our God. ...
Everlasting joy shall be theirs.
‘For I, the Lord, love justice; ...
I will direct their work in truth,
And will make with them an everlasting covenant.
Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles,
And their offspring among the people.
All who see them shall acknowledge them,
That they are the posterity whom the Lord has blessed.’ ...
For as the earth brings forth its bud,
As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth,
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.”
Isaiah 61:4, 6-8, 9, 11.