“As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby…” (1 Peter 2:2)

What many people fail to realize when it comes to the Bible… is you can be well versed and acquainted with the writings on multiple levels…and still ‘not get it’. You can memorize and quote scripture all day long, name all 66 books contained in the Bible, as well as recite stories and historical accounts woven through those pages; but if you have failed to ‘come to Jesus’, as in place your heart and trust in Him…the book will remain a ‘closed book’ to you, if not a ‘dead’ one.

But….but…but…”to those who do ‘receive Him (the Word)…to them He gives the power or the capacity to become children of God” (John1:1,12).

In the same way that a woman must ‘receive the seed’ in order for conception to take place and for life to begin…so is it with any of us when it comes to receiving this ‘abundant life’ that Jesus came to offer us (John 10:10). He even told some devoted students of the scriptures that they could study those writings all day long…seeking ‘eternal life’…but until they ‘came to Him’…they would never find it. (John 5:39-40).

But once you do…’receive Him’, or ‘come to Him’…something miraculous begins to take place within you, beneath the surface of your heart. Why do you think we are told the ‘devil comes immediately to snatch that word from your heart’ (Luke 8:12; Mark 4:15)? “….lest you believe and are saved’.

For that matter, why do you think it can be such an ongoing battle to make time to spend reading God’s word, let alone maintain your concentration as you read it? I can tell you why...we have a spiritual enemy who knows…what word is capable of doing in us, which is why he provides more than enough distractions and excuses to stay away from it.

And if you are persistent enough to take time…and read …and study the word, then the second line of defense he (the enemy) uses, and probably the most effective ‘scheme’ of his…is to keep you from actually ‘doing’ what the word says. Yeah…you might read that one over again, aloud to yourself. What was the warning issued to us by James regarding just being a ‘hearer of the word’ but not a ‘doer’? (James 1:22)

Do you want to know why many sincere believers end up stalling in their spiritual growth….and never see the transformation that was promised to them? They fail to ‘do whatever He says to you’, which is what Mary told those servants at the wedding in Cana that were in desperate need of a miracle of ‘transformation’, i.e. – water changed to wine (John 2:1-5).

As I have spent much time addressing here in my daily lessons in recent years, we are given plenty of ‘heads up’ as to what to expect in these ‘last days’…’upon whom the end of the ages have come’ (1 Cor. 10:11). A ‘flood’ is coming, but not a physical/natural one; rather a ‘spiritual flood’ (Matt. 24:37-39). We know that the ‘enemy comes in like a flood’ (Isa. 59:19) and it is a flood of deception and lies designed to get you to back off the word…and to believe a lie’ (Rev. 12:15; 2 Thess. 2:9-12). I don’t know who needs to hear this, but we are not talking about ‘when that flood comes’…because it is already here!

Jesus wrapped up His Sermon on the Mount sharing one more ‘word picture’ about two men who built two houses, one of them being ‘wise’… and building his house on a rock, while the other He referred to as being ‘foolish’…because he built his house on the sand. (Matt. 7:24-27). It’s important to note that both houses…were subject to the same flood and pounding rain and storms; but what was the distinguishing difference between the ‘wise and foolish’ men? The wise man…when he ‘heard the word of God’…he ‘did it’; as opposed to the ‘foolish man’…who heard the word but did NOT…do it, or put it into practice.

Again…something that many fail to grasp, let alone are even aware of…is this process that becomes a part of our walk of faith, and being ‘saved’…involves this cleansing, or ‘sanctifying’ whereby we are ‘cleansed and made pure’….through the ‘washing of the water of the word’ (Eph. 5:26-27).

With that thought in mind, consider Paul’s warning found in 2 Cor. 7:1: “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

Have any idea how one ‘does that’? Take a look at 1 Peter 1:22- “Since you have purified your souls in OBEYING the truth through the Spirit…love one another fervently with a pure heart”. Paul echoes a similar thought in 1 Timothy 1:5.

Oh…but you were told to just ‘pray this prayer, accept Christ…and all would be well with your soul’? But then you were also encouraged to ‘read your Bible daily’ as a good practice, along with attending church regularly. Friends…if you still remain a ‘wretched mess; (as many still see themselves) and continue to ‘practice sin’…something is amiss. The purpose of God’s word is to cleanse and uproot and to remove all sin from our lives as we are ‘conformed to His image’ (Rom. 8:29). This is how we are ‘set apart and made holy’; or as Peter wrote: “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.’ (1 Pet. 1:23).

Final thought for today: If you wash your car, or some bed linens, a new white shirt/blouse….or even your face for that matter…and after the fact it still appears dirty or blemished, are you satisfied that you at least made an effort? Or do you go back and wash it again until it’s clean? Now consider that you are washing up to attend a special ‘wedding’. Maybe time to go have another closer look? (2 Cor. 13:5)