Document: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db940603.TXT
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OUR  DAILY  BREAD                        Friday, June 3, 1994
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READ:  Proverbs 10:11-21

                       FROM INTAKE TO OUTPUT

           By  your  words  you  will  be   justified,
             and by your words you will be condemned.

                        - Matthew 12:37


Pastors, public speakers, and  writers  must  do  a  lot  of
listening  and reading to keep fresh and current.  They must
search out information, keep alert  for  illustrations,  and
find new and better ways of expressing truth.

I listen to radio talk shows while driving,  and  I  have  a
book or magazine in hand when I'm watching a ballgame on TV.

What happens with all this input of words and ideas?  It  is
processed  by my mind and becomes a part of me.  Then when I
write or speak, it comes out in my own words.

This process of absorbing words and ideas is not  unique  to
speakers  and authors, however.  We all take in vast amounts
of information every day, and this can  be  very  dangerous.
What we do with all this input is vitally important.  Living
in a world-system with godless values, we are bound  to  en-
counter  a  lot of garbage.  Therefore, we must avoid all we
can and reject what we can't avoid.  If we  aren't  discern-
ing,  our mind will become defiled.  But if we find pleasure
in what is "true," "noble," "just,"  "pure,"  "lovely,"  and
"of  good  report"  (Phil. 4:8), these qualities will be re-
flected in what we say.

Let's commit ourselves to take in only what is wholesome  so
that output will also be wholesome.


Author:  Herbert Vander Lugt

 Take my heart, its wellspring deep,
 Cleanse and  purify  and keep;
 Keep my tongue, Lord, bridled well,
 Words of truth, oh, may it tell.   - Henry  G.  Bosch

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
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Never put out the welcome mat for an evil thought.

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:  Proverbs 8-11

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Our Daily Bread, Copyright 1994, used by permission of Radio
Bible Class, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49555, USA. Written per-
mission must be obtained from RBC for any further posting or
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