“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4)

Practising the Word

We know today that in order to receive the reward we need light—both that of the “first day”—the light of the world—as well as that of the “fourth day”—the light of life.

At the beginning of the Gospel of John, we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (1:1, 4). We need this light, not only in its initial and generic aspect, that is, as the light of the world (represented by the light of the first day of creation), enlightening us in every situation, but also as the light of life, a defined light, represented by the light of the fourth day of creation.

The experience of the apostle John affords us a good example of how to advance in order to gain the light of life, a more intense light. When John got out of prison he went to Ephesus, where he realized that the situation of the church there, beginning with the condition of the leaders, was not compatible with the words they had received from the apostle Paul. He also saw that instead of getting the life-supply out of the word and practising it, they took it as mere doctrine.

Actually, we can say that they received a certain amount of light, but something only comparable to the light of the first day of creation, a diffused light. Without a shadow of a doubt, the Epistle to the Ephesians is excellent, but it was necessary to gain the “fourth-day light” from it, which is the light of life, that is, they needed to practise these words.

Tomorrow we will see how the apostle John helped the Ephesians to receive the “fourth-day light” that they lacked in order to practise the words Paul had written to them.

Key Point:

Receiving and practising the word.

Your Key Point:

Question:

What happens when we don’t practise the word?

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