Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord. Romans 12:11.

There are many who are absorbed in worldly business, and they do not give the Lord that devotion which is essential for their spiritual improvement. They tax brain, bone, and muscle to the uttermost, and gather to themselves burdens which lead them to forget God. Their spiritual powers are not exercised as well as their physical powers, and every day they are on the losing side, growing poorer and poorer in heavenly riches.

There is another class who meet with loss because they are indolent and spend their powers in pleasing themselves, in using their tongues, and letting their muscles rust with inaction. They waste their opportunities by inaction, and do not glorify God….

There is something for everyone to do in this world of ours. The Lord is coming, and our waiting is to be not a time of idle expectation, but of vigilant work. We are not to spend our time wholly in prayerful meditation, neither are we to drive and hurry and work as if this were required in order that we should gain heaven, while neglecting to devote time to the cultivation of personal piety. There must be a combination of meditation and diligent work. As God has expressed it in His Word, we are to be “not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.” Worldly activities are not to crowd out the service of the Lord. The soul needs the riches of the grace of God, and the body needs physical exercise, in order to accomplish the work that must be done for the promulgation of the gospel of Christ….

Parents should teach their children that the Lord means them to be diligent workers, not idlers in His vineyard…. Each one is to act his part in the great work for humanity…. Thus the lamp of the soul will not be neglected, if time is taken to pray and to search the Scriptures. The allotted task may be done, and the lamp of the soul kept trimmed and burning.^{5Letter 62, 1894.}