2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.” – Mark 4:2-8 (NIV)
In Mark 4, we see the parable of the sower. This is a very interesting parable. What is interesting to me is that the seed was the same in each instance. There wasn’t some good seed and some bad seed. The seed remained the same. What changed was the soil the seed was to grow on.
This parable helps us see that the word of God is like seed and that it has the potential to bear fruit in our lives. The seed always had the potential to grow into something great, it just needed the right soil to do it in. The same is true for us. Each time we hear the word of God, it has the power to grow into a good harvest in our lives.
But it’s up to us what kind of soil we let our hearts be. Parables like this one give us the opportunity to learn, grow, and dig deep into the word of God. Or we can ignore them. The difference isn’t the word of God, but rather what we do with the word of God.
So today, if you haven’t, give some thought to what kind of soil you think you are. Is your heart open to the word of God? Do you study it and search for its meaning? Or do you harden your heart, ignore it, or have some other response to it? If you’ll prepare your heart to be good soil, when you hear the word of God, it can grow into a great harvest in your life.
No Comments