I can still remember how excited Sadie and I were when we purchased our first home. Once we received the keys, it was off to Lowe’s to begin putting our taste and style in the new house. One of the first things we purchased was a welcome mat. We wanted it to be the first things friends and family saw when they came over. I find it interesting that this is the imagery James uses when he teaches Christians how they should think concerning the scriptures.
James 1:21 says, “…receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” The word picture for receive means to place a welcome mat. This causes me to pause and evaluate if I am welcoming all of God’s truth and instruction in my life. Do I find myself selecting parts of it that appeal to me while ignoring the other parts that are convicting? All of scripture should be welcomed. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
Before we can receive God’s Word, James adds another important instruction in the beginning of verse 21. Notice how he says, “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness…” I have a special appreciation for the phrase rampant wickedness. I can remember being a kid and trying my best to understand the Bible. My King James version said superfluidity of naughtiness. I was a young kid scratching my head wondering, “What in the world does this mean?” It was the great Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe that taught me the answer in his classic Be Book series.
The word picture for rampant wickedness, or superfluidity of naughtiness, is a garden that is overgrown with weeds. Those of you who garden know how much work it takes to cultivate the ground, yet it doesn’t take any work to grow weeds. If you do not pay careful attention to a garden, weeds will grow in excess and will overrun the harvest you are working toward.
The picture James is painting is that before we can receive the benefit of God’s Word, we first have to do the hard work of pulling out weeds of sin. Those types of sins that grow in excess. The kind of sin that can run rampant simply because we are not paying attention to our life. Is God’s Word welcome in you? Will you receive its instruction? I love this verse because it teaches me to pull the weeds and receive the imperishable seed of God’s Word (1 Peter 1:23).
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