Basic HTML Version
I Will Love Good Books, March 26
Guarding the Avenues to the Soul
Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
1 Timothy 4:13
God has given to His people the choicest reading matter. Let the
Word of God find a place in every room in the house. Keep the Bible, the
bread of life, in plain sight. Let the money spent for magazines be spent
instead for publications containing present truth, and let them be given a
prominent place in the home. With all safety these may be placed before
the children and youth. Novels should not find a place in the homes of
those who believe in Christ. Do not keep before the youth that which
is represented as wood, hay, and stubble, for it will poison the appetite
for that which is represented as gold, silver, and precious stones. The
inclination for light, trashy reading is to be strictly denied.
Keep choice, elevating literature ever before the members of the
family. Read our books and papers. Study them. Become familiar with
the truths they contain. As you do this, you will feel the influence of
the Holy Spirit. Every moment of life is precious, and should be spent
in preparing for the future immortal life. Let the mind be stored with
the elevating, ennobling themes of the Word of God, that you may be
ready to speak a word in season to those who come within the sphere of
your influence. The reading of our publications will not make us mental
dyspeptics. None of us will receive the bread of life to our injury, but
as these books are read, the mind will be furnished with that which will
establish the heart in the truth.
We must prepare ourselves for most solemn duties. A world is to be
saved.... In view of the great work to be done, how can anyone afford to
waste precious time and God-given means in doing those things that are
not for his best good or for the glory of God?
[90]
93