"Washing of the Word"

 "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." (John 15:3 KJV)

  "You were cleaned from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart." (1 Peter 1:22 NLT) 

 Not to change the subject, but there is something important about the Word, that might need to be part of the strength of the branches: Water! I know that I try hard to stay in the Word every day, but I could do better; an hour or so each day may not be sufficient; and listening to sermons and teachings throughout the day, if they are not teaching the Word, might not be good enough. 

 You would be surprised by all the churches that do not teach the Word, let alone, actually read it out loud as part of the service. They might reference a verse or two, as part of their message, but then the whole rest of the message is about whatever they want to share about. (Good thing this is not church!) 

 In a way, clean is referencing the pruning which Jesus spoke about in the previous verse; much like trimming off the waste or died part of the branch, as to not waste any nutrients on something that does not do any good. This is what God's word does for us, as we take in more and more, it nourishes the good, and cuts away the bad; making us clean, as far as the flesh might go, we are renewed day by day, in the washing of the Word! 

 To be perfectly honest, I really could learn a thing or two about loving people more; as if that is really something that is learned, because it really is not! We learn how not to trust certain things people do; we learn how to read people, sometimes wrongly; we teach ourselves to be short-tempered! We must be made pure, by the washing of the Word; meditating upon the Scriptures that are dealing with our issues, like it is something we need to do, or else! 

 That might sound a bit extreme, but there only two commands that we need to focus upon: Loving God, and loving each other! If you are not loving each other, you are not loving God...

"Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment - to love one another - is the same message you heard before. Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shinning. If anyone claims, "I am living in the light," but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still in darkness. Anyone who loves another brother or sister is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. But anyone who hates and brother or sister is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness." (1 John 2:7-11 NLT)