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Consecrated Eyes, September 26
The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but
the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.
Proverbs 15:14
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Many do not earnestly seek to understand the lessons found in God’s
Word. They lay aside the Bible, and allow their minds to become en-
grossed with the cheap reading found in books of fiction, newspapers, and
magazines.
The pernicious practice of story reading is one of the means employed
by Satan to destroy souls. The mind that is occupied with exciting sto-
ries loses all relish for solid reading.... I am acquainted with many sad
examples of the evil effects of this baneful practice.... The more they
indulged the appetite for this kind of mental food, the greater was the
demand. The imagination constantly craved its accustomed stimulus, as
the inebriate longs for his wine or tobacco. Their mental and moral powers
were weakened and perverted. They lost their interest in the Scriptures,
and their relish for prayer; and they were as truly ruined, mentally and
spiritually, as is the liquor drinker or the tobacco devotee. Novel readers
are mental inebriates; and they need to sign a pledge of total abstinence
as verily as does the victim of any other form of intemperance.
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.... Keep choice, elevating literature ever before the
members of the family.
The reading of God’s Word does not fascinate the imagination and
inflame the passions, like the fictions of a storybook, but it softens and
soothes the heart, and elevates and sanctifies the affections.
It is the privilege of the youth to say, “The Lord has given me my sight
and hearing for His glory. I will close my ears to that which is foolish and
cheap. I will read that Word that will fit me for a place in the home Christ
is preparing for those who have sanctified their souls by obedience to the
truth. My voice shall proclaim the glory of God; every power of my being
shall be consecrated to God.”
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