As I’ve talked to people who regularly consume the Word, they speak often about how the Word guides them, how it illuminates their path, how it helps them know which way to go. I think of the verse in Psalm 119 that says “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

Think of life as you traveling at 100 mph in the middle of the night with no street lamps or external lights. Under your own power, you can put up parking breaks, and that’s it. Imagine how scary it would be to travel at 100 mph in the middle of the night with only parking breaks. No wonder people’s lives crash and burn so often. When we consume the Word, it’s like we’re switching on the high beams. We can see what’s in front of us, we can adjust our course before danger comes, and we know which way to turn. When you consume the Word, you receive guidance. Your path is illuminated.

A second reward is what I call spiritual food, or maybe spiritual vitality. I experience this often. When I consume the Word, something inside of me comes alive. It’s my spirit. Some of us have been spiritually dead for so long that we can’t remember what’s it’s like to feel alive on the inside. When Jesus says that “Man shall live on every word that comes from the mouth of God,” he’s talking about feeding the soul. When you consume the Word, it’s like you’re feeding your soul, and as your soul is fed, it becomes stronger and becomes alive. And I don’t know how to describe it in words, but when I consume the Word, I feel spiritually alive. That’s an incredible reason to consume the Word.

Your life can change when you consume the Word. And on top of that, there’s one incredible long-term reward that happens when you make a habit of consuming the Word: your mind is renewed. Don’t underestimate the power of this reward. Look at what Romans 12:2 says, Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

When we consume God’s Word in a regular basis, we change the way we think. And when we change the way think, we change the way we live. Imagine it. Imagine a life where you weren’t weighed down by stress and worry because you were so confident in God that you just knew he would take care of you so you didn’t have to worry.

Imagine a life without shame or guilt over past mistakes because you are so overwhelmed with God’s grace that God’s forgiveness constantly washed over you like a flood. Imagine a life where you woke up every single day knowing that today mattered, that your life had purpose, and that God created you for this moment, for this time, to do something of eternal significance.

Imagine a life where joy and love welled up inside of you so deep that it overflowed to everyone around you because you were so rooted in the joy of the Lord. Do you think that would change you at all? That’s what a renewed mind is. That’s a mind that’s been transformed because you’ve chosen to allow God’s Word to shape your reality.