There are two seeds planted deep in the earth of human nature. One of them is most definitely God's fault, the other is only indirectly so. These two seeds lay dormant within us until effected by the stimulus that stirs them to life by God's design and as described in Paul's letter to the Romans. What are these seeds? One is sin and the other is faith.
Sin, as I've described it before, manifests itself so early in any of us, we don't recollect the when or the how of its initiation. We may start life with sin as a latency rather than an actuality, but we are born in it and to it, we imbibe it. It's as natural as breathing to us, not even noticeable to us! We all act sinfully long before the seed of sin is even discovered by it's budding within us. Nonetheless, it takes a stimulus to enliven that sinful seed--a catalyst acting upon the latency, awakening tendril and root and establishing it's vice like grip upon our souls.
Paul said that instigating agent was the commandment of God. What Adam and Eve could only pattern because they were not sinners from birth, we all are by our very nature. A singular command was sufficient to reveal their inability to handle all that God had given them: we have more commands but lack their pristine goodness. When we are exposed to the law, sin awakens, rises, and wrestles us into submission. No matter how hard our minds may try to exert the upper hand, the seed hidden in us wins the day and declares its hegemony over us.
Thankfully, there is another seed in us--the seed of faith. Everyone is given a measure by God, at least that's how I see it. That seed may be only a small, insignificant trifle, but it is sufficient to raise the dead to life and launch mountains like ICBMs. This seed requires a catalyst as well to produce its desired effect. Paul tells us that catalyst is the word of God.
Now some could envision that merely as a communication of biblical material, but I think it goes farther than that. I believe God has to be there, in the word, speaking ethereally that which may be coming palpably through the language of man. In otherwords, it's the Word of God carried by the Breath of God: alive, active, compelling, convicting. When that Word comes that close, the ears of the heart are tickled to life, and the seed of faith can awaken.
