7T 204
(Testimonies for the Church Volume 7 204)
There is no time for engaging in trifling amusements, the gratification of selfish propensities. It is time that you were occupied with serious thoughts. And you cannot dwell upon the self-denying, self-sacrificing life of the world’s Redeemer and find pleasure in joking and jesting and whiling away your time in foolishness. You are greatly in need of a practical experience in the Christian life. You need to train the mind for the work of God. The religious experience is to a great degree determined by the character of the books you read in your leisure moments. (7T 204.1) MC VC
If you love the Scriptures, and search them whenever there is opportunity, that you may come into possession of their rich treasures, then you may be assured that Jesus is drawing you to Himself. (7T 204.2) MC VC
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him.” Colossians 2:8-10. (7T 204.3) MC VC
We cannot be complete in Christ and yet be ready to grasp those things that come from the so-called great men of the earth, and place their wisdom before the wisdom of the greatest Teacher the world has ever known. To seek knowledge from such sources is represented in the word as seeking to drink from broken cisterns that can hold no water. (7T 204.4) MC VC