Your children were not disciples of Christ. They were in friendship with the world, and their natural hearts desired to be like worldlings. The lust of the eye and the pride of life controlled them and have influenced you to a certain extent. You have sought more earnestly to please and gratify your children than to please and glorify God. You have forgotten the claims of God upon you, and the wants of His cause. Selfishness has led you to expend money in ornaments for the gratification of yourself and your children. You did not think that this money was not yours; that it was only lent you to test and prove you, to see if you would shun the evils you had marked in others. God made you His steward, and when He cometh and reckoneth with His servants, what account can you give of your stewardship? {2T 280.2}

Dine børn var ikke Kristi disciple. De var i venskab med verden og deres naturlige hjerter ønskede at være som verdsliges. Øjnenes lyst og livets hovmod og glans styrede dem og har påvirket dig i et vist omfang. Du har alvorligere forsøgt at behage og tilfredsstille dine børn end at behage og forherlige Gud. Du har glemt Guds krav på dig og det hans sag mangler. Egenkærlighed har forledt dit til at bruge penge på smykker til tilfredsstillelse af dig selv og dine børn. Du troede at de penge var dine; at de kun var låns for at forsøge og prøve dig, for at se om du ville undgå de onder du havde præget andre med. Gud gør dig til hans forvalter og når han kommer og gør regnskab med sine tjenere, hvilket regnskab kan du da give for din forvaltning?