He who determines to overcome has a warfare before him from which there is no release. Manfully he is to fight the good fight of faith. Lawfully he is to strive, day by day seeking for purity and moral excellence. This God requires him to do that he may represent Christ. He is to believe the promises of God, and trust in Christ, showing those around him that he has an inexhaustible treasure from which to draw. His words are to be right words, his spirit the right spirit. His hands are never to grow weak in doing the work God has given him to do. He will meet with trials, but he must always be brave and cheerful. He is to treat all as the purchase of the blood of Christ, without partiality and without hypocrisy. The Holy Spirit is his helper. Through Christ, who strengthens him, he is enabled to bear all things. . . . {TDG 102.2}

The talents God has entrusted will call for proportionate returns. God accepts "according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not" (2 Cor. 8:12). He does not expect from the man who has only one talent that which He expects from him who has five. If the wealthy choose to gratify every selfish desire, to enjoy the good things of this life, they will be judged accordingly. They refuse to honor Christ by humble obedience, to lift His cross. They live to please and gratify self, and thus dishonor God; and He declares, "Them that honour me I will honour" (1 Sam. 2:30). . . . {TDG 102.3}

Only those who trade faithfully upon their talents, with a solemn sense of their responsibility, do a great work, because of their steadfast faithfulness. . . . Only those who glorify Him by wisely improving the gifts lent them by aiding the cause of God, are great in His sight.--Manuscript 53, April 3, 1899, "Words of Instruction to Those Connected With the Sanitarium." {TDG 102.4}