A little thing...Big Difference.

In 1840, Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was alarmed by the number of babies and mothers dying in the maternity ward in his Vienna hospital.  The fact that was more alarming was that one particular room had a death rate three times higher than another room in the same ward!  The room that was so deadly was staffed by medical students whereas the other was staffed by midwives.  He struggled over the problem until the cause came to him.  The medical students were coming to the delivery rooms straight from dissecting the human bodies in their anatomy classes!  They never washed their hands!  Once they started washing their hands the death rate in the maternity ward dropped to under one percent!  

Dr. Semmelweis was cheered as a hero and promoted among the ranks of his fellow physicians.  Oh how I wish that were true!  The sad truth is the good doctor was ridiculed by his colleagues.  He soon resigned his position because of the shame and even though he repeated his practice in a new hospital with the same great number of saved lives he died in 1865 still ridiculed for his stance on hand washing!

It's amazing how one small act made all the difference in the lives of countless women and children.  Doctors took a few moments to wash their hands and lives were saved!  It's interesting to me that people are dying all around us; not just outside but inside the church.  So many lives could be saved if we would just wash.  A few moments in God's Word everyday would help to cleanse our minds and our hands.  Ephesians 5:26 reads, "to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,".  The Word cleanses us!  It definitely cleanses us in the early stages of our relationship with Jesus because Romans 10:17  says, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." But it doesn't end there!  God's word cleanses us daily!  Spending just a few moments in God's Word every day can be the difference between life and death.  Be washed, be clean and live!

James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

1. Do you see the difference in your life when you don't read God's Word versus when you do?

2. Do you have a set time to read the Bible everyday?

3. Pick a time everyday that will be your time with God and His Word.

4. Tell someone about your commitment.