GOOD GROUND Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:1 1). Christians love all the parables of Jesus but the parable of the sower, or as it is also known, the parable of the soils, surely among the most beloved. If we were blessed with having been brought to Bible School, we have known from the time we were little children that there are four kinds of soil: the wayside soil, the rocky soil, the thorny or weed-choked soil and the good soil. The seed is the same in each instance; it is always the word of God. The sower does his work, spreading the seed where he can. The differing results are, as we know, because of the nature of the soil. We understand that the soils stand for the different conditions of the hearts of men. The wayside heart is living too close to the devil, so he can readily come in and steal the truth away before it can take root. It never pays to live close to the edge of evil and untruth. The heart that is always on the wayside is but a short distance from tragedy. The rocky soil is the shallow heart. The truth brings joy, but it is a fleeting thing. There is no depth, so there can be no root. Such a person is not adequately serious about life. They might live for the moment. The tragedy is that by living for the moment they neglect to prepare for the day they will meet God in judgment (2 Corinthians 5:10). The thorny soil is weed-choked with worldliness and materialism. We are all worldly to a certain extent. Yes, all of us. I’m not sure that we can avoid it all together. But we can control the emphasis we give within ourselves to worldliness. In other words, we can limit the importance of materialism and pleasure in our lives. We can and should keep ourselves under control (see the example of Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:27). Notice that Jesus said that those represented by the thorny soil mare choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection? Three things choke this heart: cares, riches, and pleasures. Now, we might understand how could choke us, but what of the other two? When a man is more interested in money than anything else, he is choked by it. Imagine having someone shove down your throat a big wad of old, dirty paper money, money about which your mother would say Get that our of your mouth, you don’t know where that has been!” Just a thought like that makes me a little bit sick. Riches can choke the very life out of us, and make us insensitive and uncaring. Riches can choke the truth out of us, too. Imagine a man considering becoming a Christian. He is considering being baptized into Christ, just as the Bible teaches. Then he remembers that his boss hates the church, or his rich parents detest the idea of any church but their own.. .and he stops, refusing to obey the Lord. What has happened? As Jesus said, his fruit is not perfected. The thorny ground also represents the heart that is caught up in the pursuit of pleasure. Such a person might well be a Christian, someone who has obeyed the gospel, but is not faithful to the Lord. He hears the Word preached and knows that he ought to be restored, that he ought to become an active Christian. But he loves his pleasures, and he cannot take time away from them. Whether it is some game he loves to play or some sin he loves to commit, the result is the same. Truth is choked out and the fruit that he could well have borne falls to the ground a shriveled dried out mess. And then there is the good ground. Jesus says that these are the honest and good hearts that “having heard the Word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.” We want to be that good ground. And we do get to decide! We can refuse to live too close to sin. We can work to assure that our hearts are not spiritually shallow. We can “weed-out” the thorns of care, riches and pleasures. The seed is always right and ready... It is up to us to prepare the soil of our own hearts.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 09:32:40 +0000
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