21-Day Growth Challenge | Day Six: "The Implanted Word"
James 1:21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 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; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 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.
Insight
In this text, James lays out practical steps for "saving" our souls, (the mind, will, and emotions):
1. Lay aside filthiness and wickedness. Can a Christian act wickedly? Unfortunately, yes. In New Testament Greek, filthiness is defined as, "defile, dishonor." Wickeness is defined as: “malice, ill-will, not ashamed to break rules.” There can be no advance when unconfessed sin is present.
2. Receive the implanted Word with meekness. The implanted Word is the word that is placed in you by God and others. It is a word that we are fully prepared to "do" and not just hear.
Example
It’s like the vegetables your mother made you eat, when you would have preferred to eat cake and pies. We wanted candy, but needed good nutrition. Pastors and spiritual leaders must implant the Word. Sometimes folk just want to have church, but God wants the Word implanted. We need meekness when the word being implanted rubs you the wrong way.
3. The result of the implanted Word is the saving, or restoring and renewal of the soul. Your soul is your mind, will and emotions. How you think, how you choose, and how you feel, all need to be “saved” in the sense of becoming more Christlike.
James 1:23-24 describes the problem with believers who do not renew their minds. Seeing the condition, but not acting to change it.
James 1:25 describes believers who practice renewing of their minds. Such persons are hearers and doers of the Word and the "work" of the Lord.
Prayer
In your prayer today, if necessary, "lay aside" any "filthiness and wickedness" which means things that defile and dishonor, or any attitude that wants to go against God's way. Thank God for grace and faith to be a doer of the Word.
Day Six | Online Exercise
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