Receiving in Meekness the Implanted Word

What is the implanted word? The answer is best seen in the picture the word itself conveys. Jesus described His message as a sower sowing seed. What happens to seeds when they are planted – they become “implanted” seeds. The Greek word from which “implanted” is translated literally means to “puff up or to swell.” That’s exactly what a seed does when it is planted. Contact with the soil, warm, and moisture, cause the dormant power contained in the seed to sprout and life comes bursting out of the shell. The implanted word must be received in the prepared soil of meekness of heart. Meekness is an inner submission to the will of the Heavenly Father that is produced by the plow and harrow of His dealing with our hard hearts. The fallow ground of our hard hearts must be broken in order to produce the proper soil condition that will allow the implanted word to spring to life. In fact, before we can even “receive in meekness the implanted word”, we must prepare the soil by “laying aside all filthiness and the abundance of evil”. That’s exactly what a plow does. The plows rips through the fallow ground, uprooting the occupying grasses and literally laying them aside, ending their life. The old must be put to death to pave the way for the new. This preparation of the heart is the key to the word of His grace becoming the implanted word effectually working in us.

Soil that is unprepared or little prepared will fail to give the seed the needed environment to bring forth it fruits by endurance. The stony path that is not plowed will never cause the seed to swell; instead, it will cause the seed to shrivel. Seed that falls on the unplowed areas of our heart, like the seed on the unplowed paths become food for the birds rather than fruit for the sower. Shallow soil, having only little preparation fairs not much better. There is a danger of having just enough brokenness for the seed to become implanted but never adequately rooted. It takes a thorough plowing and breaking of our hardness to prepare a soil deeply conditioned with the meekness necessary for the word to become not only implanted, but rooted and established.

Here is another hidden gem to ponder in this amazing process. We recognize that it is the seed’s contact with the soil, warm, and moisture, that calls forth its dormant power unto life, but what contact does the “implanted” word make within our heart to transform it from a thought into a living reality? In the meekness of a broken and contrite heart, the life within that word begins to swell and burst forth when it is “mixed with faith.” The word that is received in meekness then becomes the word mixed with faith and the result is the power of the gospel that will save our souls.

The above was written by Alan. 
The picture is of Whitney's Herb Garden.