If there's one thing every speaker at this weekend's conference emphasized it was this: We need to follow through with application.
We need to ask the Lord to give us the desire and determination to put our knowledge of textual criticism into practice.
Dear friend, ask for the Lord's enabling. Applying the Scriptures in our lives should not be attempted in our own strength. Our walk as Christians must be lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. We must be sure that in the entire process of doing textual criticism we are relying on the Spirit to guide us.
We need to ask him to show us areas in our lives where application is needed and then ask him to work in us to bring about changes in our lives that will make us more Christlike. Application is the crowning step in exegesis.
Knowing which reading is original is essential, but blessing comes from doing what the Bible says. As Johann Bengel wrote in 1742:
"Apply yourself wholly to the text, and apply the text wholly to yourself."