It is not natural for you to love spiritual things; but you can acquire that love by exercising your mind, the strength of your being, in that direction. The power of doing is what you need. True education is the power of using our faculties so as to achieve beneficial results. Why is it that religion occupies so little of our attention, while the world has the strength of brain, bone, and muscle? It is because the whole force of our being is bent in that direction. We have trained ourselves to engage with earnestness and power in worldly business, until it is easy for the mind to take that turn. This is why Christians find a religious life so hard and a worldly life so easy. The faculties have been trained to exert their force in that direction. In religious life there has been an assent to the truths of God’s word, but not a practical illustration of them in the life. {2T 263.4}

Det er ikke naturligt for dig at elske åndelige ting, men du kan tilegne dig denne kærlighed ved at bruge dit sind og din styrke i den retning. Handlekraft er, hvad (264) du trænger. Sand uddannelse er kraften til at bruge vore evner for at opnå gavnlige resultater. Hvad er grunden til, at gudsfrygt optager så lidt af vor opmærksomhed, medens verden får den styrke, som findes i hjerne, ben og muskler? Det skyldes,, at al kraften i vort væsen er indstillet i den retning. Vi har oplært os til med alvor og kraft at give os af med timelige foretagender, indtil det falder sindet let at gå den vej. Dette er årsagen til, at kristne mennesker synes, at det kristne liv er så svært og det verdslige liv så let. Evnerne er blevet oplært til at bruges i den retning. Hvad det kristne liv angår, har der vel været en indrømmelse af sandhederne i Guds ord men ingen praktisk fremstilling af disse i livet.