A Devotion from George Whitfield

Diligently study the Scriptures.  —John 5:39

Perhaps you have no taste for this despised book.  Perhaps plays, romances, and books of polite entertainment suit your taste better. If this is your case, give me leave to tell you your taste is impaired, and, unless corrected by the Spirit and Word of God, you will never enter his heavenly kingdom, for unless you delight in God here, how will you be made fit to dwell with him hereafter? Is it a sin then, you will say, to read useless, impertinent books? I answer, Yes, and for the same reason that it is a sin to indulge in useless conversation, because both tend to grieve and quench that Spirit by whom alone we can be sealed to the day of redemption. You may reply, How will we know this? Why, put in practice the precept in the text; study the Scripture in the manner that has been recommended, and then you will be convinced of the danger, sinfulness, and unsatisfactoriness of reading any others than the book of God, or such as are written in the same spirit. Then you will say, when I was a child and ignorant of the excellence of the Word of God, I read what the world calls harmless books, but now that I have tasted the good word of life and have come to a more mature knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, I put away these childish, trifling things and am determined to read no other books but what lead me to a knowledge of myself and of Christ Jesus.

Study diligently, therefore, the Scriptures, my dear brothers and sisters. Taste and see how good the Word of God is, and then you will never leave that heavenly manna, that angel’s food, to feed on dry husks, that light bread, those trifling, sinful compositions in which people of false taste delight themselves. No, you will then disdain such poor entertainment and blush that you yourselves once were fond of it. The Word of God will then be sweeter to you than honey and the honeycomb and dearer than gold and silver; your souls by reading it will be filled “as with the richest of foods” (Ps. 63:5) and your hearts gradually molded into the spirit of its blessed Author. In short, you will be guided by God’s wisdom here and conducted by the light of his divine word into glory hereafter.