My brethren, are you cultivating devotion? Is love of religious things prominent? Are you living by faith and overcoming the world? Do you attend the public worship of God? and are your voices heard in the prayer and social meeting? Is the family altar established? Do you gather your children together morning and evening, and present their cases to God? Do you instruct them how to become followers of the Lamb? Your families, if irreligious, testify to your neglect and unfaithfulness. If, while you are connected with the sacred cause of God, your children are careless, irreverent, and have no love for religious meetings or sacred truth, it is a sad thing. Such a family exerts an influence against Christ and against the truth; and “he that is not with Me is against Me,” says Christ. The neglect of home religion, the neglect to train your children, is most displeasing to God. If one of your children were in the river, battling with the waves and in imminent danger of drowning, what a stir there would be! What efforts would be made, what prayers offered, what enthusiasm manifested, to save the human life! But here are your children out of Christ, their souls unsaved. Perhaps they are even rude and uncourteous, a reproach to the Adventist name. They are perishing without hope and without God in the world, and you are careless and unconcerned. {5T 423.2}

Lad enhver af dem, hvem hellige tillidshverv er betroet, spørge: "Hvordan tilfredsstiller jeg Guds granskende blik? Er mit hjerte renset fra dets besmittelse? Eller er dets tempel-forgårde blevet så vanhelligede, så fyldte med købere og sælgere, at Kristus ikke finder nogen plads?" Hvis travlhed i forretning fortsættes uden afbrydelse, vil den udtørre åndelighed og efterlade sjælen blottet for Kristus. Skønt man vel kan bekende sig til sandheden, vil man blive ledet til at gøre mærkelige ting, hvis man dag efter dag fortsætter uden en levende forbindelse med Gud; der vil blive truffet afgørelser, som ikke er efter Guds vilje. Vore ledende brødre kan ikke være trygge, når de handler efter egne tilskyndelser. De vil ikke være under åg sammen med Kristus og vil derfor ikke handle i overensstemmelse med ham. De vil være ude af stand til at indse og erkende sagens tarv og Satan vil påvirke dem til at indtage standpunkter, som vil forvirre og være til hindring.