Train Up A Child (Part 3)

A few weeks ago, we established that God wants us to meditate on His word (see Part 2 here).

But the question is why. Why does God want to train us through meditation?

The answer is found in Luke 8 in the Parable of the Sower.

There, Jesus tells the story of a farmer who sows seed in a field (Luke 8:4-8). Some seed falls on good soil and yields a hundred-fold harvest (Luke 8:8). Other seed falls on rocky soil and withers (Luke 8:6). Still others fall among the thorns and get choked (Luke 8:7).

Later, Jesus explains that the seed is the Word of God and the field is our heart (Luke 8:12-15).

In order for the seed to take root, we not only have to hear the word (i.e. plant the seed), we also have to till the ground and ensure that our soil is ripe for planting. Meditation helps the word take root in our hearts. It helps our heart retain the Word and persevere (Luke 8:15). It is part of what separates good soil from bad, ripe hearts from rocky ones, harvest from destruction and death.

God instructs us to meditate on His Word because He knows that it's the process through which we prepare our hearts to receive the Word. It's the method He uses to take us from being hearers of the Word to doers of the Word (James 1:22). Luke 8 tells us that harvest comes through meditating on the Word. And who wouldn't want a one hundred-fold harvest?

So, how are you cultivating your soil today?

God bless,
J.W.