Investing in the Future

The best investment that we as families and as a church can make is an investment in future generations.

They will carry the torch of the everlasting gospel after our death.

On Sabbath, September 14, 1902, Ellen White preached a stirring sermon at the East Los Angeles Campground40 addressing the Christian responsibility to educate our children. She emphasized our duty to lead them to Christ and to teach them by precept and example how to practice our Adventist lifestyle. For example, regarding how we should dress, she stated, “Have you linked right up with the Master? Has appetite and passion and all the enchantments of dress, the taste for dress, come in and cut off your connection with your heavenly Father? We do not ask you to be careless in dress. We ask you to dress simply, to dress your children simply, and to teach them how they can obtain the robe of Christ’s righteousness that is without a spot or without a stain upon it.” On eating meat, she affirmed, “We have no need to eat the flesh of dead animals at all. No, we will take the food at first; we will not wait to have it go through the animal, and then eat the dead flesh of the animal in order to get the food. We will take the food the first cooking. We will take the very best that we can get, and we will prepare it in the very best manner to give us strength.” Mrs. White also emphasized the need for physical exercise: “God wants us to teach our children that they shall use every muscle and every nerve. What is the matter with us? Why, this machinery is all rusting out with inaction.” Crowning the whole sermon, she declared, “What we want is more of Christ and much less of self. Now, this is what fathers and mothers need in their homes. They need the softness of the Spirit of God to come right into their hearts.” Our problem usually is a lack of balance and commitment. Many of us take some components of our Adventist lifestyle seriously and ignore others. Perhaps we need to follow Christ’s advice: “These are the things you should have done without neglecting the others” (Matthew 23:23, NASB). Let’s consistently live up to all the light that the Lord has given us!