Consider the following

Luke 8¹⁵ But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

The parable of the sower and the seed has always been astounding to me. I was reading it last week and a new element stood out to me. The element of nobility. The hearts that received the seed and produced thirty, sixty and one-hundred fold, were hearts that were noble and good. Two questions immediately arise; the first being what does it mean to have a noble heart and the second being do I have one?

To the first I'm not sure. Nobility has a direct relationship with birth, as one primarily becomes noble by no actions of their own, but is rather born into nobility. There is also a action oriented sense of the word being noble. Being noble is certainly connected to honesty, sacrifice and charity. I personally like the element of honesty. I imagine a nobleman's word is his bond. But it the sense of receiving the gospel there is a different kind of honesty that must be applied. The nobleman's self honesty is a difficult and continual process. Digging through the proverbial weeds of our heart and live in a state of honesty with our state. Not one where we see weeds and exalt them but recognize and diligently remove them. Weeds are interesting because they don't immediately damage the plant, they are much more insidious. They stunt growth, take nutrients that should be applied to the plant and feed something that is essentially a waste of life.

Noble of heart receive the gospel because they first recognize they need it and after receiving it they diligently protect it.