Embracing the Word

Our family has reestablished the family devotional time. At bedtime we gather in my oldest son’s bed and read Scripture and pray before we turn in for the night. I bought a Message Paraphrase of the Bible to read through the book of Mark. I’ve been reading the passage in the morning to meditate on prior to our time together in the evening. Today, I read about the different soils that the Word is sown into. The thing that struck me was the difference between the Word sown into the weeds and that which is sown into the fertile soil.

The seed cast in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it.

Mark 4:18-19 (Message)

How much of the Word is diminished by my over-focus on the things I have to do and what I want? These things are natural. Every garden has weeds. It’s when you don’t tend to them properly that they become a problem. However, I find myself focused on weeds entirely too much.

But the seed planted in the good earth represents those who hear the Word, embrace it, and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams.

Mark 4:20 (Message)

If I spend my energy focusing on the Word instead of the weeds, I will reap an abundant harvest. I must hear the Word, receive it, embrace it, and produce it. Acting on what the Word says always produces results. So what does it mean to “embrace the Word?” How do I do this? How do I maintain my attention on not just hearing it but embracing it and allowing it to change me? He who has ears, let him hear, let him receive, let him embrace, let him do.