Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students - Ellen G. White

the necessary duties of life is yet to be learned by
many of Christ’s followers. It requires more grace,
more stern discipline of character, to work for God
in the capacity of mechanic, merchant, lawyer, or
farmer, carrying the precepts of Christianity into
the ordinary business of life, than to labor as an
acknowledged missionary in the open field. It
requires a strong spiritual nerve to bring religion
into the workshop and the business office,
sanctifying the details of everyday life, and
ordering every transaction according to the
standard of God’s word. But this is what the Lord
requires.
The apostle Paul regarded idleness as a sin. He
learned the trade of tentmaking in its higher and
lower branches, and during his ministry he often
worked at this trade to support himself and others.
Paul did not regard as lost the time thus spent. As
he worked, the apostle had access to a class of
people whom he could not otherwise have reached.
He showed his associates that skill in the common
arts is a gift from God. He taught that even in
everyday toil God is to be honored. His toil-
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