A few mornings ago I was reading my husband Keith a verse that had taken on new meaning for me, deeper than I'd previously thought. It was Psalm 141:5 "Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities." His reply, "Meaning has growth", set me to thinking. There's an exciting fact about reading scripture over and over again. The Bible is like a diamond, continuously revealing new color as it's held up to the light. I like to picture myself, and all believers, because it's true, as being filled with the Light that is Jesus. The Word is Jesus, too, so as our Light shines on the Word, it shines back on us, giving new insight and knowledge and making us brighter and more like Him.

II Corinthians 4:4,6 says, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

When we say we believe, but don't read and study the Word, we are like a candle with a bushel basket set over us. Our light shines faintly. It can't be made brighter and stronger because we are denying ourselves the source of growth. In I Cor. 13:10-11 it says: "But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." The truly spiritual man has opened himself and put forth the effort to grow up into Jesus. Just as the physical child grows into a man as he is nourished with food, so the spiritual child must feed on the Word in order to grow. No earthly child wishes to remain a child, but many of us refuse or neglect spiritual growth and so continue on in babyhood.

Here is our goal: Ephesians 4:13-14. "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive..."

Let us be encouraged today to press on towards God by filling ourselves with His Word and His Light, that we may show forth the glory of God in the face of Jesus.