How's the Soil of Your Heart?
Jesus told parables when a concept was so important - He wanted listeners to be left with a visual. In the book of Matthew, he spent a lot of time explaining the concept of seed and soil. In Matthew 13:1-9 Jesus spoke to a large crowd standing on a beach. He described a sower (farmer) who went out to plant seeds in various types of soil. In this parable it’s important to know each of the roles.
The farmer is Jesus, as He spreads the truth of God and tries to explain it to others. We, as followers of Jesus, are also farmers because we spread the seed of His truth to all that He leads us to.
The seed is the Word of God, and the truth about salvation.
The soil is YOUR heart. It’s the way you think about faith, and how you talk and think about Jesus.
There are four main types of soil in this passage that Jesus describes. It’s interesting to note what kind of soil our hearts are.
Road Soil: Scripture says that some seed is spread beside the road, but birds come and steal it right away. Typically, the soil near roads has been hardened and made to be strong so cars and other vehicles can ride over them. Roads are busy, and there’s a lot going on around them. If your heart is like the soil near roads, you might be hardened towards the love of Christ. You may be over-busy or constantly moving, and the birds come and steal what God is trying to give.
Rocky Soil: This soil is not deep, it’s shallow. It has rocks all over it, and although seed may spring up quickly, it never grows past this stage because of the lack of depth. This person stays a baby in faith for far too long.
Thorny Soil: This soil has seed spread over it, but thorns creep up and choke out the word of God. These thorns may be debilitating worry, deceitfulness of riches, self-absorption, or habits and behaviors that pull us away from God’s truth.
Good Soil: This soil is the soil that brings a good crop. It’s fertile and willing to grow and to spread. It focuses on the truth of God and allows the seed to go deep and to be nurtured.
In the Gospel of Mark, we see a man who moves from one type of “heart-soil” to another. He was blind, and miraculously gets his sight back from Jesus after sitting on the rocky soil of the road. As his heart changes, he fully sees…and the path of his entire life changes.
What kind of soil are we?
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