Mining Their Minds

Rom. 15: 4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning

Before the computer was invented, perhaps nothing else affected the spread of knowledge like the printing press. It is one of the greatest inventions of all time. Books help us to pass on valuable information from person to person regardless of time or place. It is now possible to record the wisdom and knowledge gained by one generation and pass it on to the next generation. God said that the experiences of the men and women in the Bible were written down so that we in these times can learn from them.

God has allowed man to gain so much knowledge about the universe and about life. The knowledge and great ideas that He gave to them through the ages are there in the books for us to have; ideas that are valuable like gold and diamonds in a mine. But to get them we have to dig for them; we have to get into the minds of these great thinkers through the things that they have written. We have to read.

The problem is that it is not only easier now to write down words of wisdom and true knowledge, but also to write down falsehood, destructive philosophies and sinful ideas. There is a lot of gold that we can mine for in books, but while we are digging let us not forget that what seems to be a goldmine is sometimes filled with just garbage, or very dangerous minerals. We need to mind where we mine and whose mind we are mining.

This is where it is helpful to remember Paul’s advice in Philippians 4: 8 and dig for whatever is true, and pure and good. That’s what we should allow into our minds. There are riches to be gained from mining the minds of great men; in particular, those whose thoughts are recorded in the scriptures or who have been guided by them. Read. The ability to read and the gift of wisdom in books are God’s special gift to you. Don’t waste them, but dig in and get rich. “Blessed is he who reads”.

Dear Lord, thank You for the ability to read and for the rich blessings to be found in good books. Guide me today in making the best use of these blessings