Good-Ground Hearers, January 21

But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.—Matthew 13:8.HB 36.1

A knowledge of the truth depends not so much upon strength of intellect as upon pureness of purpose, the simplicity of an earnest, dependent faith. To those who in humility of heart seek for divine guidance, angels of God draw near. The Holy Spirit is given to open to them the rich treasures of the truth.HB 36.2

The good-ground hearers, having heard the word, keep it. Satan with all his agencies of evil is not able to catch it away.HB 36.3

Merely to hear or to read the word is not enough. Those who desire to be profited by the Scriptures must meditate upon the truth that has been presented to them. By earnest attention and prayerful thought they must learn the meaning of the words of truth, and drink deep of the spirit of the holy oracles.HB 36.4

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.HB 36.5

“And bring forth fruit.” (Mark 4:20.) 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.)HB 36.6

The word of God often comes in collision with our hereditary and cultivated traits of character and our habits of life. But the good-ground hearer, in receiving the word, accepts all its conditions and requirements.—Christ’s Object Lessons, 59, 60.HB 36.7