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A Pure Moral Atmosphere, September 6
That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths
of the righteous.
Proverbs 2:20
.
In order to have a healthy body, the blood circulating through the veins
must be pure; in order to be pure it must have pure air and pure food.
The use of improper food and the inhalation of impure air cause disease,
which appears in various forms.
The purity and soundness of our religious life is dependent not only
on the truth we accept, but on the company we keep, and the moral atmo-
sphere we breathe. Faith, elasticity and vigor, hopefulness, joyfulness,
doubts and fears, slothfulness, stupidity, envy, jealousy, distrust, selfish-
ness, waywardness, and backsliding, are the result of the associations we
form, the company we keep, and the air we breathe.
The indulgence of wrong associations will have its baleful re-
sults....The Bible may be read and prayer be offered, yet there will be no
increase of spiritual health, no growth of soul, so long as the air which is
breathed is bad.... The greatest care should be exercised by the believers
to place themselves in close connection with God and with those who
have been taught of God. It is painful to see those who have believed
present truth walking into Satan’s net....
We raise our voice and cry to every believer in the present truth: If
you would have spiritual health, look to your lungs. Look to your spiritual
food. Cultivate a love for the society of those who are pure and good, if
you would have Christ formed in you as the life of the soul. The health of
the soul depends upon the breathing of a good moral atmosphere.
Christ, the Great Physician, has given a prescription for every believer.
He must eat the food provided in the Word of God. And the faith that
works by love to God and man is dependent not only upon the food we
eat but upon the air we breathe. If we associate with those who are evil,
we breathe an atmosphere tainted with the malaria of sin. Be sure, by
association with the meek and lowly followers of Jesus, to breathe a pure,
holy atmosphere.
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