We become Christ-like in the measure that the Word prevails in us.
The mind is renewed by studying the Word and by acting upon it. One may study the Word for years, but if he does not act it, live it, is not a doer, the mind is not renewed. James gives us the secret in James 1:22, “Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” Many Bible students are deceiving themselves because they are not acting, living, doing the Word. It is not only committing the Word to memory, which is valuable, but it is letting that Word become an integral part of our beings. It lives in us.
You understand that the mind cannot be renewed by the study of the Word. There must be a continual practice of the Word. The Word must live in me so that it becomes part of me. Just as my blood is a part of me, just as my muscles are a part of me, the Word must become a part of my very being.
The one who thinks that knowledge is all that is necessary will fail .
It is the doer of the Word, the man who practices it, lives it, walks in it, that builds it into his own life, whom God honors.
There is a grave danger of deluding our own selves .
We know the Word . We may be familiar with the original Greek or Hebrew. We may know the history of the Word, but that is all wasted energy if we do not live the Word, practice it.