The Implanted Word

Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;  for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.  But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.  James 1:19-25

There always seems to be one little phrase that jumps out at me in a text.  Tucked in between the exhortations "lay aside all filthiness", and "be doers of the word, and not hearers only" is this little phrase "receive with meekness the implanted word." The NIV calls it "the word planted in you." To me it paints a mental picture of a seed being planted. But this seed is not being planted in the soil of the earth, but into the soil of our hearts (RE: Matt 13).

Just a little reminder that when we read and meditate on Gods word, we're not just reading, we are planting the very wisdom and nature of God into our hearts and minds. We are planting seeds of wisdom and righteousness that will spring forth with life and fruit. The fruit is the action that we take, the work we do, the ministry that flows.  The person that does this "is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does."

PC