The Christians of good purpose are they who walk with God (Gen. 5:22), in separation from this “present evil world” (Gal. 1:4). As they walk with Him there is perfect agreement (Amos 3:3); there is sweetest fellowship (1 John 1:3); there is the power of Christ resting upon the soul (2 Cor. 12:9); there is world unconformity and Heavenly transformity (Rom. 12:2); there is the eye turned toward the City of God and the lips confessing we are “strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Heb. 11:13-16), and the heart in joyful expectation of the Saviour from Heaven (Phil. 3:20-21). All this is accompanied by diligent service for the Master, as Gospel testimony, pastoral care, teaching the Word, according as each one has received the gift (Eph. 4:11).
In a walk that tells for God, there is special emphasis to be placed upon taking heed what we hear (Mark 4:24). From the platform and the press an immense volume of teaching is pouring into the world, much of it destructive to the child of God. To keep clear of this poisoned torrent is a great difficulty. A man can be judged by the things he gives his ears and mind to. Oh, for the ear attentive to the Divine Voice, amid the babel of earth sounds. The most dangerous thing, by far, is the religious press with its specious propaganda of Modernism—a modernising of the Holy Scriptures, altering and rejecting to suit the intellect and taste of man. “The Lord shall have them in derision “(Psa. 2:4). No religious book or paper should have our time and attention that impairs the appetite for the Holy Scriptures, and fails to kindle love for the person of Christ. What can compare with that all-comprehensive and infinitely precious Library of 66 volumes—the Word of the Living God! Life and time alike are too short for the prayful study of these books, bound together as one harmonious whole.
That aged and saintly man, Robert Cleaver Chapman, whose reputation for Christ-likeness is world-wide, was, practically, a man of one book—the Bible. It is said he was once asked if he would like to read a certain book, to which he replied very graciously: “I am reading a most interesting Book which I have not yet finished.” And he never finished it, though he lived nearly 100 years.