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True Education
enjoins is the life that, through its power, we are to live. Only as the
Bible is thus held can it be studied effectively.
The study of the Bible demands our most diligent effort and
persevering thought. As the miner digs for the golden treasure in
the earth, so earnestly, persistently must we seek for the treasure of
God’s Word.
In daily study the verse-by-verse method is often most helpful.
Let the student take one verse, and concentrate on ascertaining the
thought that God has put into that verse for him or her. Then dwell
on the thought until it becomes one’s own. A single passage thus
studied until its significance is clear is of more value than the perusal
of many chapters with no definite purpose in view and no positive
instruction gained.
One of the chief causes of mental inefficiency and moral weak-
ness is the lack of concentration for worthy ends. We pride ourselves
on the wide distribution of literature, but the multiplication of books,
even books that in themselves are not harmful, may be a positive
evil. With the immense tide of printed matter constantly pouring
from the press, old and young form the habit of reading hastily and
superficially, and the mind loses its power of connected and vigorous
thought.
Furthermore, a large share of the periodicals and books that are
overspreading the land like a plague, are not merely commonplace,
idle, and enervating, they are unclean and degrading. Their effect
is not merely to intoxicate and ruin the mind, but to corrupt and
destroy the soul. The mind, the heart, that is indolent and aimless
falls an easy prey to evil. It is on diseased, lifeless organisms that
fungus takes root. It is the idle mind that is Satan’s workshop. Let
the mind be directed to high and holy ideals, let the life have a noble
aim, an absorbing purpose, and evil finds little foothold.
Teach the youth, then, to give close study to the Word of God.
Received into the soul, it will prove a mighty barricade against
temptation. “Your word,” the psalmist declares, “have I hid in my
heart, that I might not sin against You.” “By the word of Your lips,
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I have kept myself from the paths of the destroyer.”
Psalm 119:11
;
17:4
.