Daily Devotional for Sunday, March 2

The Treasure

“Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls,” James 1:21.

James 1:17-25 is full of rich truth and wisdom. This book is often called the Proverbs of the New Testament. Several of these verses have been memory verses over the years. A phrase in the middle verse caught my eye and heart: “the engrafted word” (James 1:21). God implanted His Word in us, but we must receive it.

One year when our boys were in elementary school, we tried making a small garden in the village. Our earlier attempts had been taken over by the jungle when we went back to town and were not able to tend it. This time would be different. We cleared a small square of land the same size as a wooden form we had been given. We removed grass, weeds, sticks and rocks and made it ready to receive the seed. The boys and I sowed seed inside the “walls” of the form, but we had to leave before things could grow and we could determine vegetable plants from weeds. When we returned, the jungle had once again taken over, even inside the form. So much for gardening.

For seed to take root, the soil must be receptive. James encouraged Christians to make their lives an environment where God’s implanted Word can be received. One Bible scholar writes, “Give the divine seed a clean soil…The soil of the heart must be hospitable, if the seed of the Word is to grow.”

God implants His Word in us when we accept Christ. In Jeremiah 31:33, God promised, “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.” That engrafted, implanted Word takes root when we lay aside all filthiness. Just like our garden, we prepare and clean the soil, but we must keep the filth and wickedness away so the seed can flourish.

THOUGHT
Is your heart an environment where God’s Word can take root?

Kelli Reynolds