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Meditations on Meekness - Part 4

Blog - Meekness 4

“…receive with meekness the implanted word…” (James 1:21).

Meek people are teachable people. They welcome God’s Word. That word, “receive” means “welcome”. To receive is an intellectual exercise in that it means to understand and apprehend what is being taught in the Word. In other words, the biblical truths we hear don’t float away but instead they sink down deep. They enter the heart (Proverbs 2:10). But to welcome God’s Word also means to willfully and affectionately make room for it in your heart. So when we hear God’s Word it doesn’t necessarily mean we welcome it. It takes effort and love. We can resist it and not receive it and gain nothing from it. Remember how Jesus speaks about those trying to kill him, “…you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you” (John 8:37). The Word was not welcomed. It was viewed skeptically. Good sermons, biblical counsel and theological books are no good to us if the Word is not received, if it is not welcomed.

And meekness makes the difference. We must receive with meekness. Meekness means that we are submissive to rightful authority, especially the Word of God. And we are willing to obey that Word. We can deceive ourselves that we are Christian if we hear but don’t do God’s Word (James 1:22). But meekness means we have a disposition to trust the Word we hear. And that means the Word lives and works obedience in us.

In 1 Thessalonians 2:13, Paul says, “When you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”

So God plants the Word in the soil of meekness. Only then does it produce the harvest of obedience, because it is alive and working in us. So, welcome the Word. Eat the Bible daily. Digest the sermon weekly. Receive with meekness the implanted word. Meek people are teachable people.