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The Secret of Power, January 12
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed
thereto according to thy word.
Psalm 119:9
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It is one thing to treat the Bible as a book of good moral instruction,
to be heeded so far as is consistent with the spirit of the times and our
position in the world; it is another thing to regard it as it really is—the
Word of the living God, the Word that is our life, the Word that is to
mold our actions, our words, and our thoughts. To hold God’s Word
anything less than this is to reject it.
The Word of God is a character-detector, a motive-tester. We are
to read this Word with heart and mind open to receive the impressions
that God will give. We must not think that the reading of the Word can
accomplish that which only He whom the Word reveals, who stands
behind the Word, can accomplish. Some are in danger of hastening to
the conclusion that because they hold firmly to the doctrines of the truth,
they are actually in possession of the blessings which these doctrines
declare shall come to the receiver of truth. Many keep the truth in the
outer court. Its sacred principles have not a controlling influence over
the words, the thoughts, the actions.
In this perilous day of evil, when allurements to vice and corruption
are on every hand, let the earnest, heartfelt cry of the young be raised to
heaven: “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?” And may
his ears be open and his heart inclined to obey the instruction given in
the answer: “By taking heed thereto according to thy word.” The only
safety for the youth in this age of pollution is to make God their trust.
Without divine help they will be unable to control human passions and
appetites. In Christ is the very help needed.
Truth must reach down to the deepest recesses of the soul, and
cleanse away everything unlike the spirit of Christ, and the vacuum be
supplied by the attributes of His character who was pure and holy and
undefiled, that all the springs of the heart may be as flowers, fragrant
with perfume, a sweet smelling savor, a savor of life unto life.
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