Quotations from the writings of Ellen G. White with the phrase . . .
g r e a t L E S S O N ( 2 RELATED PHRASES ) |
The phrase 'great lesson' appears 120 times in the published writings of EGW see page on Original site Related phrase: greatest Lesson ( below ) - - great lessons ( ) - - first great lesson ( ) - - greatest lesson ( ) - - greatness ( )
| But the great lesson of the parable lies in the contrast between God’s compassion and man’s hardheartedness; in the fact that God’s forgiving mercy is to be the measure of our own. “Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?” { COL 251.3} Read entire Chapter 19 |
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The great lesson here taught is for all time. Often the Christian life is beset by dangers, and duty seems hard to perform. The imagination pictures impending ruin before and bondage or death behind. Yet the voice of God speaks clearly, "Go forward." We should obey this command, even though our eyes cannot penetrate the darkness, and we feel the cold waves about our feet. The obstacles that hinder our progress will never disappear before a halting, doubting spirit. Those who defer obedience till every shadow of uncertainty disappears and there remains no risk of failure or defeat, will never obey at all. Unbelief whispers, "Let us wait till the obstructions are removed, and we can see our way clearly;" but faith courageously urges an advance, hoping all things, believing all things. Patriarchs and Prophets, page 290.2
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| This act of faith in Abraham is recorded for our benefit. It teaches us the great lesson of confidence in the requirements of God, however close and cutting they may be; and it teaches children perfect submission to their parents and to God. By Abraham’s obedience we are taught that nothing is too precious for us to give to God. { CG 225.3}
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| So through the creation we are to become acquainted with the Creator. The book of nature is a great lesson book, which in connection with the Scriptures we are to use in teaching others of His character, and guiding lost sheep back to the fold of God. As the works of God are studied, the Holy Spirit flashes conviction into the mind. It is not the conviction that logical reasoning produces; but unless the mind has become too dark to know God, the eye too dim to see Him, the ear too dull to hear His voice, a deeper meaning is grasped, and the sublime, spiritual truths of the written word are impressed on the heart. { COL 24.1} Read entire Chapter 1
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| A great lesson is learned when we understand our relation to God and His relation to us. The words, “Ye are not your own,” “ye are bought with a price,” should be hung in memory’s hall, that we may ever recognize God’s right to our talents, our property, our influence, our individual selves. We are to learn how to treat this gift of God, in mind, in soul, in body, that as Christ’s purchased possession we may do Him healthful savory service. { MM 276.1} |
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| This act of faith in Abraham is recorded for our benefit. It teaches us the great lesson of confidence in the requirements of God, however close and cutting they may be; and it teaches children perfect submission to their parents and to God. By Abraham’s obedience we are taught that nothing is too precious for us to give to God. { CCh 187.4}
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| A great lesson is learned when we understand our relation to God, and His relation to us. The words, “Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price,” should be hung in memory’s hall, that we may ever recognize God’s rights to our talents, our property, our influence, our individual selves. We are to learn how to treat this gift of God, in mind, in soul, in body, that as Christ’s purchased possession, we may do Him healthful, savory service.— Special Testimonies for Ministers and Workers 9:58, 1896 { CD 56.3}
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| The first great lesson in all education is to know and understand the will of God. We should bring into every day of life the effort to gain this knowledge. To learn science through human interpretation alone is to obtain a false education, but to learn of God and Christ is to learn the science of heaven. The confusion in education has come because the wisdom and knowledge of God have not been exalted. { CT 447.1}
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| The Great Lesson Book — The Word is the great lesson book for the students in our schools. The Bible teaches the whole will of God concerning the sons and daughters of Adam. The Bible is the rule of life, teaching us of the character we must form for the future, immortal life. Our faith, our practice, may make us living epistles, known and read of all men. Men need not the dim light of tradition and custom to make the Scriptures comprehensible. It is just as sensible to suppose that the sun, shining in the heavens at noonday, needs the glimmerings of the torchlight of earth to increase its glory. The fables or the utterances of priests or of ministers are not needed to save the student from error. Consult the divine Oracle, and you have light. In the Bible every duty is made plain, every lesson is comprehensible, able to fit men with a preparation for eternal life. { DG 77.1}
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| The true teacher is not satisfied with second-rate work. He is not satisfied with directing his students to a standard lower than the highest which it is possible for them to attain. He cannot be content with imparting to them only technical knowledge, with making them merely clever accountants, skillful artisans, successful tradesmen. It is his ambition to inspire them with principles of truth, obedience, honor, integrity, and purity — principles that will make them a positive force for the stability and uplifting of society. He desires them, above all else, to learn life’s great lesson of unselfish service. { Ed 29.2}
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| The first great lesson in all education is to know and understand the will of God. Take the knowledge of God with you through every day of life. Let it absorb the mind and the whole being. God gave Solomon wisdom, but this God-given wisdom was perverted when he turned from God to obtain wisdom from other sources. We need the wisdom of Solomon after we have learned the wisdom of One greater than Solomon. We are not to go through human wisdom, which is termed foolishness, to seek true wisdom. For men to learn science through man’s interpretation, is to obtain a false education, but to learn of God and Jesus Christ is to learn the science of the Bible. The confusion in education has come because the wisdom and knowledge of God have not been honored and exalted by the religious world. The pure in heart see God in every providence, in every phase of true education. They vibrate to the first approach of light which radiates from the throne of God. Communications from heaven are made to those who will catch the first gleams of spiritual knowledge. { FE 414.2 } also { SpTEd 15.1 }
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| The great lesson to be given to the youth is that, as worshipers of God, they are to cherish Bible principles, and hold the world as subordinate. God would have all instructed as to how they can work the works of Christ, and enter in through the gates into the heavenly city. We are not to let the world convert us; we are to strive most earnestly to convert the world. Christ has made it our privilege and duty to stand up for Him under all circumstances. I beg of parents to place their children where they will not be bewitched by a false education. Their only safety is in learning of Christ. He is the great central Light of the world. All other lights, all other wisdom, are foolishness. { FE 470.1}
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| “God so loved, ... that He gave,” “gave His only-begotten Son,” that we should not perish, but have everlasting life. “Christ ... hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us.” If we love we shall give. “Not to be ministered unto, but to minister” is the great lesson which we are to learn and to teach. John 3:16; Ephesians 5:2; Matthew 20:28. { MH 396.4}
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| Christlikeness means living to love and serve— especially the unlovely —What a wonderful reverence Jesus expressed in His life mission for human life! He stood not among the people as a king demanding attention, reverence, service, but as one who wished to serve, to lift up humanity. He said He had not come to be ministered unto, but to minister. I am sure that the great lesson of forgiveness must be learned more perfectly by us all, and we must practice the Christian graces. Wherever Christ saw a human being He saw one who needed human sympathy. Many of us are willing to serve certain ones,— those whom we honor, —but the very ones to whom Christ would make us a blessing if we were not so cold-hearted, so unkind and selfish, we pass by as unworthy of our notice. We do not help them, though it is our duty to do this,—to bear with their rudeness, while seeking to cultivate the opposite traits of character.— Review and Herald, April 12, 1887. { PaM 37.4}
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| The great lesson here taught is for all time. Often the Christian life is beset by dangers, and duty seems hard to perform. The imagination pictures impending ruin before and bondage or death behind. Yet the voice of God speaks clearly, “Go forward.” We should obey this command, even though our eyes cannot penetrate the darkness, and we feel the cold waves about our feet. The obstacles that hinder our progress will never disappear before a halting, doubting spirit. Those who defer obedience till every shadow of uncertainty disappears and there remains no risk of failure or defeat, will never obey at all. Unbelief whispers, “Let us wait till the obstructions are removed, and we can see our way clearly;” but faith courageously urges an advance, hoping all things, believing all things. { PP 290.2}
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| Every true searcher of the Word lifts his heart to God, imploring the aid of the Spirit. And he soon discovers that which carried him above all the fictitious statements of the would-be teacher, whose weak, tottering theories are not sustained by the Word of the living God. These theories were invented by men who had not learned the first great lesson, that God’s Spirit and life are in His Word. If they had received in the heart the eternal element contained in the Word of God, they would see how tame and expressionless are all efforts to get something new to create a sensation. They need to learn the very first principles of the Word of God; they would then have the word of life for the people, who will soon distinguish the chaff from the wheat, for Jesus left His promise with His disciples.— Letter 132, 1900. { 2SM 39.2}
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| Moses was too fast in slaying the Egyptian. He supposed that the people of Israel understood that God’s special providence had raised him up to deliver them. But God did not design to deliver the children of Israel by warfare, as Moses thought, but by His own mighty power, that the glory might be ascribed to Him alone. God overruled the act of Moses in slaying the Egyptian to bring about His purpose. He had in His providence brought Moses into the royal family of Egypt, where he had received a thorough education; and yet he was not prepared for God to entrust to him the great work He had raised him up to accomplish. Moses could not immediately leave the king’s court and the indulgences granted him as the king’s grandson to perform the special work of God. He must have time to obtain an experience and be educated in the school of adversity and poverty. While he was living in retirement, the Lord sent His angels to especially instruct him in regard to the future. Here he learned more fully the great lesson of self-control and humility. He kept the flocks of Jethro, and while he was performing his humble duties as a shepherd, God was preparing him to become a spiritual shepherd of His sheep, even of His people Israel. { SR 110.1}
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| The evil traits in your character must be overcome. You must take hold of the work with earnest, humble prayer to God, feeling your helplessness without His special grace. The belief of the truth has already wrought a reformation in your life, yet this reform is not as thorough as it must be in order for you to meet the measurement of God. You love the truth, but it must take a deeper hold of your life and influence your words and all your deportment. You have a great lesson to learn, and should lose no time in learning it. You have not educated yourself to self-control. Here is a special victory for you to gain. In your organization are more of the elements of war than of peace. You need to cultivate courtesy and true Christian politeness. “In honor preferring one another.” “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” { 2T 162.2} |
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Chapter 48 — The Great Lesson Book
The Sanitarium is a broad missionary field. Your medical students, in studying the word of God diligently, are far better prepared for all other studies; for enlightenment comes always with an earnest study of the word. Let it be understood by medical missionaries that the better acquainted they become with God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent, the better acquainted they become with Bible history, the better qualified they will be to do their work. The students in the College at Battle Creek need to aspire to higher knowledge, and nothing can give them a knowledge of all lessons, and a retentive memory, like the searching of the Scriptures. Let there be genuine discipline in study. There should be a most humble, prayerful longing of soul to know the truth. { FE 390.1 } |
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