It is not enough to desire and study the Word, we must live by it.  Every book in the New Testament says something about how we should live our lives.  While being born again, by our obedience to the gospel, made us children of God, our conduct determines whether we are Christians or not.  Christians are not only children of God, they are faithful children of God. 

1 Peter 1:14–15 (ESV)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ¹⁴As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, ¹⁵ but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

Holy conduct comes as a result of living by the Word of God.  Only those who walk worthy of the gospel can claim to be genuine Christians.

Ephesians 4:1 (ESV)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       ⁴I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

Paul urges the brethren at Ephesus to walk worthy because he knew their salvation depended on it.  It was not that they had to earn their salvation.  No one can do that.  They did, however, have to live by the Word of God.  To walk worthy of their calling meant to live in harmony with the gospel by which they were called (2 Thessalonica 2:14).  Paul often wrote about the worthy walk.

Colossians 1:10 (ESV)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               ¹⁰So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

To walk worthy of the Lord involves bearing fruit in every good work.  It is no coincidence that Paul told Timothy that the scriptures equip us for every good work.  Good works are the result of living by the Word of God.

Another way that Paul emphasized this kind of living was by exhorting us to walk by the Spirit.  When we walk by the Spirit, we bear His fruit.

Galatians 5:22–23 (ESV)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

This fruit of the Spirit involves, not just proper attitudes and emotions, but proper living.  Peter refers to this same fruit as qualities that must be practiced (2 Peter 1:10).  What does any of this have to do with living by the Word of God?  Everything.  We walk by the Spirit and bear His fruit when we live by His teachings.  His teachings were given to the apostles and prophets of the first century, which in turn were written down in what is now the New Testament (1 Corinthians 2:6-13; Ephesians 3:3-5).  So, living by these teachings result in bearing the fruit of the Spirit, and walking in a manner that is pleasing to our Lord.

How are you living your life?  Very few questions are more important than this.  Hopefully, we can say that we are living by the Word of God, making application of the things that we study.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.