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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

What did you get on the examination this morning?

"These have no firm root."--Luke 8:13.  This passage is an excerpt from one of my favorite parables, the Parable of the Sower. The word "firm" is italicized because it was not the original Greek but added in by the translators. But I have incorporated this parable into countless Bible Studies I have led and several devotional thoughts such as this one. I feel privileged to once again touch on the subject of what kind of soil are we?

In this passage, Jesus talks about 4 types of soil, the side of the road, the rocky, thorny, and the good soil.  In short, the  seed that fell on the side of the road are those who hear the word but do not believe. The rocky soil people are those who "believe for a while" but end up falling away because they "have no firm root."  The thorny soil people allow life to "choke out" the word from their lives.  And then we have the good soil people who hold on to the word even when life gets bad and as a result they "bear fruit with perseverance." What kind of soil are you?  It never fails, every time I read this passage I start to look at myself.and ask myself how am I receiving the word when I hear it.  Then recently I realized as Christians we are on both sides of this parable.

There are times when we are receiving the word or "the seed" but as followers of Christ we also need to be spreading the seed of the gospel.  We are the sowers.  I must admit I love the illustration of a seed the Scriptures use when it comes to spreading the word.  A seed is something so small yet when it is planted and properly cared for, it can grow into something so magnificent and sometimes the fruit it bears we can enjoy for ourselves.  I don't think its any coincidence that the Scriptures use the illustration of the seed aside from the culture Jesus originally preached to.  Because again, a seed is small.  I think a common mistake Christians make today is that we want the whole tree right away even if we just planted the seed yesterday.  In other words, many times when we convert someone, we expect there to be some instant change overnight.  I have made this mistake and the result has been discouragement.  I am then reminded that the Great Commission is not only baptizing but it is also teaching to obey everything Christ has commanded.

So as Christians, we are both the sower and the soil.  We recognize we need to spread the word, that is our responsibility to others.  But we also have a responsibility to examine ourselves.  How are we receiving the word when a sower comes our way to plant the word in our hearts? We may be out there spreading the word ourselves but sometimes we need to sit down and examine our own relationship with God and ask ourselves how we are receiving the word.  Are we the side of the road who hear it but don't really believe? For the sower, this may seem unlikely that they are the side of the road but we need to ask ourselves the question and weed out any unbelief.  Are we the rocky soil? We love hearing the word, even find it encouraging but don't plant it in our hearts so we end up falling away. Are we the thorny soil? Do we allow the worries life brings to choke out what we know to be true and therefore, fall away? Or are we the good soil? We hang on to the word no matter what happens.  The Word of God is the final say in all matters of life and as a result we are saved, not only in this life but in the life to come. So may we examine ourselves. And I leave you with the question, what did you get on the examination this morning? Pray about it, Love y'all God bless.
      

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