"A Tub Of Water"

"That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." Ephesians 5:26

The Word of God is like water that washes our souls and minds. Therefore, we must be washed by it constantly. Being washed by the Word is not the same thing as merely reading it. Just because you are reading through the Bible doesn't mean that you are being washed by it. Reading it only is like a person who runs a tub of water but never gets in it and takes a bath. But being washed by it means you then get in the tub and take a "bath". 

Taking a bath in the Word boils down to one thing-- being a doer of the Word and not a hearer only. Is it washing you? Are you letting God's Word cleanse you from anything that is unlike Christ? Are you letting it change any unrighteous attitude you may have? Are you letting it wash away the grime of daily contact with this world? Are you letting it wash away false, negative, humanistic thinking? Are you letting it wash away conformity to this world? Or are you reading it and being a forgetful hearer of what it is saying? Are you applying it to your life and letting it change and transform you into the image of its Author? Only reading it (just running the tub of water) is like a person who looks into a mirror and then when you get away from the mirror you forget what you look like. Being washed by it causes you to continually remember what it shows you and let it do something about what needs to be changed.

Have a great day. Are you merely running a tub full of God's Word, or are you taking a bath in it and letting it cleanse you from all unrighteousness?

For further reading:

James 1:23-25