WSC Q90: Take Heed How You Hear

Q. 90 How is the Word to be read and heard that it may become effectual to salvation? A. That the Word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with diligence, preparation, and prayer; receive it with faith and love, lay it up in our hearts, and practice it in our lives. As you can see, the reception of the Word is a very serious matter. There are four soils, and only one of them receives the Word for salvation! Only the soil that is said to "hear the Word with a noble and good heart, keep it, and bear fruit with patience" bears fruit for eternal life. God must give us such a heart because none of us has it on our own, but if we are to be saved, we must have such a heart. The parable of the lamp shows that we must receive the Word instead of avoiding it. Jesus' command summarises it all when He says, in verse 18: Take heed how you hear.