upon the truth that has been presented to him. By earnest attention and
prayerful thought he must learn the meaning of the words of truth, and
drink deep of the spirit of the holy oracles.
God bids us fill the mind with great thoughts, pure thoughts.
He desires us to meditate upon His love and mercy, to study His
wonderful work in the great plan of redemption. Then clearer and
still clearer will be our perception of truth, higher, holier, our desire
for purity of heart and clearness of thought. The soul dwelling in the
pure atmosphere of holy thought will be transformed by communion
with God through the study of Scriptures.
“And bring forth fruit.” Those who, having heard the word, keep
it, will bring forth fruit in obedience. The word of God, received into
the soul, will be manifest in good works. Its results will be seen in a
Christlike character and life. Christ said of Himself, “I delight to do
Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Psalm 40:8.
“I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent
Me.” John 5:30. And the Scripture says, “He that saith he abideth in
Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.” 1 John 2:6.
The word of God often comes in collision with man’s hereditary
and cultivated traits of character and his habits of life. But the
good-ground hearer, in receiving the word, accepts all its conditions
and requirements. His habits, customs, and practices are brought into
submission to God’s word. In his view the commands of finite, erring
man sink into insignificance beside the word of the infinite God. With
the whole heart, with undivided purpose, he is seeking the life eternal,
and at the cost of loss, persecution, or death itself, he will obey the
truth.
And he brings forth fruit “with patience.” None who receive
God’s word are exempt from difficulty and trial; but
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when affliction comes, the true Christian does not become restless,
distrustful, or despondent. Though we can not see the definite
outcome of affairs, or discern the purpose of God’s providences, we
are not to cast away our confidence. Remembering the tender mercies
of the Lord, we should cast our care upon Him, and with patience wait
for His salvation.
Through conflict the spiritual life is strengthened. Trials well
borne will develop steadfastness of character and precious spiritual
graces. The perfect fruit of faith, meekness, and love often matures
best amid storm clouds and darkness.
“The husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and
hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.”
James 5:7. So the Christian is to wait with patience for the fruition
in his life of the word of God. Often when we pray for the graces
of the Spirit, God works to answer our prayers by placing us in
circumstances to develop these fruits; but we do not understand His
purpose, and wonder, and are dismayed. Yet none can develop these
graces except through the process of growth and fruit bearing. Our
part is to receive God’s word and to hold it fast, yielding ourselves
fully to its control, and its purpose in us will be accomplished.
“If a man love Me,” Christ said, “he will keep My words; and
My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our
abode with him.” John 14:23. The spell of a stronger, a perfect
mind will be over us; for we have a living connection with the
source of all-enduring strength. In our divine life we shall be brought
into captivity to Jesus Christ. We shall no longer live the common
life of selfishness, but Christ will live in us. His character will be
reproduced in our nature. Thus shall we bring forth the fruits of the
Holy Spirit—“some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.”
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Chap. 3 - “First the Blade, Then the
Ear”
Based on Mark 4:26-29;
The parable of the sower excited much questioning. Some of
the hearers gathered from it that Christ was not to establish an
earthly kingdom, and many were curious and perplexed. Seeing their
perplexity, Christ used other illustrations, still seeking to turn their
thoughts from the hope of a worldly kingdom to the work of God’s
grace in the soul.
“And He said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast
seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the
seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth
bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the
full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately
he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.”
The husbandman who “putteth in the sickle, because the harvest
is come,” can be no other than Christ. It is
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He who at the last great day will reap the harvest of the earth. But the
sower of the seed represents those who labor in Christ’s stead. The
seed is said to “spring and grow up, he knoweth not how,” and this is
not true of the Son of God. Christ does not sleep over His charge, but
watches it day and night. He is not ignorant of how the seed grows.
The parable of the seed reveals that God is at work in nature.
The seed has in itself a germinating principle, a principle that God
Himself has implanted; yet if left to itself the seed would have no
power to spring up. Man has his part to act in promoting the growth
of the grain. He must prepare and enrich the soil and cast in the seed.
He must till the fields. But there is a point beyond which he can
accomplish nothing. No strength or wisdom of man can bring forth
from the seed the living plant. Let man put forth his efforts to the
utmost limit, he must still depend upon One who has connected the
sowing and the reaping by wonderful links of His own omnipotent
power.
There is life in the seed, there is power in the soil; but unless
an infinite power is exercised day and night, the seed will yield no
returns. The showers of rain must be sent to give moisture to the
thirsty fields, the sun must impart heat, electricity must be conveyed
to the buried seed. The life which the Creator has implanted, He alone
can call forth. Every seed grows, every plant develops, by the power
of God.
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“As the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth
the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will
cause righteousness and praise to spring forth.” Isaiah 61:11. As in
the natural, so in the spiritual sowing; the teacher of truth must seek
to prepare the soil of the heart; he must sow the seed; but the powe
