The Sword and the Soil

     The Word of God is a living, two-edged sword designed not to inform but to transform.  It is the thoughts of God put into writing for men to read and to meditate on so that their lives might be purposeful--lived to the glory of God.  It is God's mirror of grace and truth; it reveals to a man exactly how God sees him at that moment--the truth--and precisely what God through His Holy Spirit intends for him to become and how that metamorphous can occur if he will only submit to the Spirit's powers of transformation--the grace.  And as God's Word it always accomplishes what He intends for it to accomplish.  Sometimes that purpose is achieved immediately just as the rain immediately nourishes the soil and brings forth growth and fruit.  Sometimes, though, its purpose takes longer to accomplish just as a winter snow waters the ground only after cold gives way to springtime's heat, and then, as it melts, it nourishes the ground months after it has fallen.  God is never in a hurry, but He's never late.  So it is with the working of His Word as well.
     And yet, there is another side to the equation that we must not ignore:  the condition of the soil.  In Matthew 13, Jesus explained to His disciples what happens when the Word of God is taught.  And He told them that there were four different responses.  First, sometimes God's Word falls on hearts of stone; hearts that are so cold that nothing that is taught can penetrate and take root.  It has no effect.  Sometimes God Word falls on shallow hearts.  There is an emotional response, but as soon as the person finds out what it costs to be obedient to that Word, they turn aside and say, "that's not for me.  I don't want to pay the price of obedience and faith."  Sometimes the Word falls on hearts that embrace it, start to put it into practice, and a transformation begins.  But at some point the wealth and worry of the world--and the two are inseparable--gets their attention, and they turn to pursue the wrong treasure.  Then, sadly, the transformation stops, the light is hidden, the salt becomes saltless, indistinct from the world around it, powerless.  Thankfully, there is a fourth reaction; there is a fertile heart.  When the Word is taught, it is embraced, given full authority, and no matter what comes that person's way, God's truth is clung to tenaciously.  Even if everything and everyone earthly is lost, he or she walks on by faith, rests in the everlasting arms of love, and the transformation is a never ending process; the fruit of the Spirit--the Christ-likeness-- becomes more and more evident for all to see.
   Application?  Every time I share God's truth with a group of people, I can trust Him to have under its hearing a fertile heart.  At the same time I must realize that I cannot control the soil of the listening heart.  Only the listener can control that.  Their heart is not my responsibility; my only responsibility is to sow the seed.  And so, I too, every time I sit under the teaching of the Word must examine my attitude, the soil that makes up my heart.  I must be sure that the soil of my heart is not cold and indifferent.  I must be sure that the soil of my heart is not shallow and hesitant to obey.  I must be sure that the soil of my heart is not seduced by the treasures of this worry-filled, materialistic world.  I must be sure that my heart is fertile soil, that my heart is submissive to the Spirit's sword, ready to embrace the transformation process no matter what the cost.
     At the heart of the Kingdom of God is the Word of God, and my relationship to it makes all the difference in the world, in this world and in the everlasting one to come.