Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23.

Truly earnest men are few in our world, but they are greatly needed. The example of an energetic person is far-reaching; he has an electric power over others. He meets obstacles in his work; but he has the push in him, and instead of allowing his way to be hedged up, he breaks down every barrier….

There are thorns in every path. All who follow the Lord’s leading must expect to meet with disappointments, crosses, and losses. But a spirit of true heroism will help them to overcome these. Many greatly magnify seeming difficulties, and then begin to pity themselves and give way to despondency. Such need to make an entire change in themselves. They need to discipline themselves to put forth exertion, and to overcome all childish feelings. They should determine that life shall not be spent in working at trifles. Let them resolve to accomplish something, and then do it.

Many make good resolutions, but they are always going to do something and never get to it. About all their resolutions amount to is talk. In many cases, if they had more energy and accomplished something in spite of obstacles, they would have far better health.

Everyone should have an aim, an object, in life. The loins of the mind should be girded up, and the thoughts be trained to keep to the point as the compass to the pole. The mind should be directed in the right channel, according to well-formed plans. Then every step will be a step in advance. No time will be lost in following vague ideas and random plans. Worthy purposes should be kept constantly in view, and every thought and act should tend to their accomplishment. Let there ever be a fixedness of purpose to carry out that which is undertaken.

Success or failure in this life depends much upon the manner in which the thoughts are disciplined. If they are controlled as God directs that they shall be, they will be upon those subjects which will lead to greater devotion. If the thoughts are right, the words will be right….

The afternoon sun of … life may be more mellow and productive of fruit than the morning sun. It may continue to increase in size and brightness until it drops behind the western hills…. Keep your heart and mind young by continuous exercise….

The Bible is the best book in the world for intellectual culture. The grand themes presented in it, the dignified simplicity with which these themes are handled, the light which it sheds upon the mysteries of heaven, bring strength and vigor to the understanding.—The Review and Herald, April 6, 1886.

From Reflecting Christ

By knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. Proverbs 24:4.

For the mind and the soul, as well as for the body, it is God’s law that strength is acquired by effort. It is exercise that develops. In harmony with this law, God has provided in His Word the means for mental and spiritual development.

The Bible contains all the principles that men need to understand in order to be fitted either for this life or the life to come. And these principles may be understood by all. No one with a spirit to appreciate its teaching can read a single passage from the Bible without gaining from it some helpful thought. But the most valuable teaching of the Bible is not to be gained by occasional or disconnected study. Its great system of truth is not so presented as to be discerned by the hasty or careless reader…. The truths that go to make up the great whole must be searched out and gathered up, “here a little, and there a little” (Isaiah 28:10).

When thus searched and brought together, they will be found to be perfectly fitted to one another. Each Gospel is a supplement to the others, every prophecy an explanation of another, every truth a development of some other truth. The types of the Jewish economy are made plain by the gospel. Every principle in the Word of God has its place, every fact its bearing. And the complete structure, in design and execution, bears testimony to its Author. Such a structure no mind but that of the Infinite could conceive or fashion.

In searching out the various parts and studying their relationship, the highest faculties of the human mind are called into intense activity. No one can engage in such study without developing mental power.

And not alone in searching out truth and bringing it together does the mental value of Bible study consist. It consists also in the effort required to grasp the themes presented. The mind occupied with commonplace matters only, becomes dwarfed and enfeebled. If never tasked to comprehend grand and far-reaching truths, it after a time loses the power of growth. As a safeguard against this degeneracy, and a stimulus to development, nothing else can equal the study of God’s Word.

As a means of intellectual training, the Bible is more effective than any other book, or all other books combined…. No other study can impart such mental power as does the effort to grasp the stupendous truths of revelation. The mind thus brought in contact with the thoughts of the Infinite cannot but expand and strengthen.—Education, 123, 124.

From Reflecting Christ

The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. Psalm 34:15.

The consciousness of rightdoing is the best medicine for diseased bodies and minds. The special blessing of God resting upon the receiver is health and strength. One whose mind is quiet and satisfied in God is on the highway to health. To have the consciousness that the eye of the Lord is upon us, and that His ear is open to our prayers, is a satisfaction indeed. To know that we have a never-failing Friend to whom we can confide all the secrets of the soul is a happiness which words can never express. Those whose moral faculties are clouded by disease are not the ones to rightly represent the Christian life or the beauties of holiness. They are too often in the fire of fanaticism, or the water of cold indifference or stolid gloom.

Those who do not feel that it is a religious duty to discipline the mind to dwell upon cheerful subjects will usually be found at one of two extremes: they will be elated by a continual round of exciting amusements, indulging in frivolous conversation, laughing, and joking, or they will be depressed, having great trials and mental conflicts, which they think but few have ever experienced or can understand…. Appropriate labor, the healthy exercise of all their powers, would withdraw their thoughts from themselves….

If they would train their minds to dwell upon themes which have nothing to do with self, they might yet be useful….

Despondent feelings are frequently the result of too much leisure. The hands and mind should be occupied in useful labor, lightening the burdens of others; and those who are thus employed will benefit themselves also….

The mind should be drawn away from self; it powers should be exercised in devising means to make others happier and better. “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27).

True religion ennobles the mind, refines the taste, sanctifies the judgment, and makes its possessor a partaker of the purity and holiness of heaven. It brings angels near, and separates us more and more from the spirit and influence of the world. It enters into all the acts and relations of life, and gives us the “spirit of … a sound mind,” and the result is happiness and peace.—The Signs of the Times, October 23, 1884.

From Reflecting Christ

I shall … praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. Psalm 42:11.

The wise man says that wisdom’s “ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.” Many cherish the impression that devotion to God is detrimental to health and to cheerful happiness in the social relations to life. But those who walk in the path of wisdom and holiness find that “godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” They are alive to the enjoyment of life’s real pleasures, while they are not troubled with vain regrets over misspent hours, nor with gloom or horror of mind, as the worldling often is when not diverted by some exciting amusement.

It is true that there are many professing Christians who have diseased imaginations, and do not correctly represent the religion of the Bible. They are ever walking under a cloud. They seem to think it a virtue to complain of depression of spirits, great trials, and severe conflicts. This course is not in accordance with the words of the Saviour, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” It is the duty of all to walk in the light, and to cultivate habitual cheerfulness of mind, that they may reflect light rather than gloom and darkness.

Godliness does not conflict with the laws of health, but is in harmony with them. Had men ever been obedient to the law of ten commandments, had they carried out in their lives the principles of these ten precepts, the curse of disease that now floods the world would not be. Men may teach that trifling amusements are necessary to keep the mind above despondency. The mind may indeed be thus diverted for the time being; but after the excitement is over, calm reflection comes. Conscience arouses, and makes her voice heard, saying, “This is not the way to obtain health or true happiness.”

There are many amusements that excite the mind, but depression is sure to follow. Other modes of recreation are innocent and healthful; but useful labor that affords physical exercise will often have a more beneficial influence upon the mind, while at the same time it will strengthen the muscles, improve the circulation, and prove a powerful agent in the recovery of health.

“What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? … The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.”—The Signs of the Times, October 23, 1884.

From Reflecting Christ

If we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning. Hosea 6:3.

We are living amid the perils of the last days, and we are to cleanse ourselves from all defilement, and put on the robe of Christ’s righteousness. The work of God is to be steadily carried forward. We are to bring ourselves, body, soul, and spirit, into subjection to Christ. Unless we do this, the health of both body and soul will be endangered.

God desires His workers to gain daily an understanding of how to reason logically from cause to effect, arriving at wise, safe conclusions. He desires them to add to the strength of the memory. We cannot afford to make mistakes. As little children we are to sit at the feet of Christ, learning of Him how to work successfully. We are to ask God for sound judgment, and for light to impart to others. There is need of knowledge that is the fruit of experience. We should not allow a day to pass without gaining an increase of knowledge in temporal and spiritual things. We are to plant no stakes that we are not willing to take up and plant farther on, nearer the heights we hope to ascend.

The highest education is to be found in training the mind to advance day to day. The close of each day should find us a day’s march nearer the overcomer’s reward. Day by day our understanding is to ripen. Day by day we are to work out conclusions that will bring a rich reward in this life, and in the life to come. Looking daily to Jesus, instead of to what we ourselves have done, we shall make decided advancement in temporal as well as spiritual knowledge.

The end of all things is at hand. What we have done must not be allowed to place the period to our work. The Captain of our salvation says, “Advance. The night cometh, in which no man can work.” Constantly we are to increase in usefulness. Our lives are always to be under the power of Christ. Our lamps are to be kept burning brightly.

Prayer is a heaven-ordained means of success. Appeals, petitions, entreaties, between man and man, move men, and act as a part in controlling the affairs of nations. But prayer moves heaven. That power alone that comes in answer to prayer will make men wise in the wisdom of heaven, and enable them to work in the unity of the Spirit, joined together by the bonds of peace. Prayer, faith, confidence in God, bring a divine power that sets human calculations at their real worth—nothingness….

He who places himself where God can enlighten him advances, as it were, from the partial obscurity of dawn to the full radiance of noonday.—Australian Union Conference Record, November 1, 1904.

From Reflecting Christ