How important is the word of God to your soul?To put it plainly, your soul will be lost without the word of God.To be even more specific, your soul, which is the unseen, non-physical, enduring part of you (Eccl. 12:7), will be forever separated from Almighty God (2Thess. 1:9), who is the source of everything that is good and pleasant (Jas. 1:17), because of your sins, which have created a division between you and God (Isa. 59:2), unless you are saved through the word of God.Only the gospel of Christ, which is word of God, has the power of God for your salvation (Rom. 1:16).That is how important the word of God is to you!
Therefore, you must make it your goal and ambition to receive the word of God into your heart.By reading the Bible (Eph. 3:4) and listening to the preaching of the gospel (Rom. 10:17), you give the word of God access to your heart, where it may take root and produce salvation for your soul.Notice James 1:21 – “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.”That implanted word of God is the seed of your new spiritual life, and your heart is the soil in which that seed may grow or perish.
Not only do you need to receive the word of God implanted in your heart, but also you need to be certain that it finds fertile soil in which to grow.In the parable of the sower (Matt. 13:1-23), Jesus described four types of hearts that received God’s word, and only one produced the desired results.The first type of heart was one that did not understand the message, and the evil one snatched it away.The second type of heart was one that falls away when difficulties arise because of the word.The third type of heart was one that is carried away by worldly things and riches.The fourth type of heart was the good soil that receives the word of God, understands it, and bears fruit.You must do all that you can to prepare your heart to be the good soil that gives growth to the word.This can be accomplished through fervent study, prayer, and work.When you hear the word of God, act upon it and make it live within you.“But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves” (Jas. 1:22).
When your heart is made of that good soil, then the seed of God’s word takes root, gives you new life, and produces the fruit of salvation.Notice Romans 10:8-10:
“But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’--that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
When the word of faith – the word of God – is believed in your heart and confessed with your mouth, then it produces a new birth to a spiritual life of righteous and salvation from sin.As a Christian, you are a new creature (2Cor. 5:17), and the old person and evil practices are done away (Col. 3:9-10).The new you is one who is obedient to God, pure in soul, and loving of your fellow Christians – “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God” (1Pet. 1:22-23).
Not only does the word of God give you a new spiritual life, but it is also the means by which you may grow spiritually.For this reason, the word of God should be your constant desire, for it sustains you and feeds your soul.“Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord” (1Pet. 2:1-3).Hungry souls cannot truly be satisfied with anything less than God’s holy word.
Therefore, consider whether God’s word is in you.As you see in the passages of Scripture quoted above, the welfare of your eternal soul depends on God’s word in you.This is not a matter of being a Bible scholar or a theologian, but rather it is a matter of taking the message of the gospel – the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, the church, the kingdom of God, Judgment, faith, love, hope, good works, etc. – and making the message effective in your life.A firm foundation in the word of God will do this for you.Jesus said, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32).Is His word in you?
