*Inspired by Luke 8:5-8
Disclaimer: I really don’t know much about farming and planting seeds. My previous gardening experience is limited to throwing a bag of potting soil into a container, throwing the seeds in, and hoping I water it enough so it grows and thrives. In terms of soil content and what nutrients certain plants need to thrive, I would really have to do my research. However, I do know that the soil matters. I don't know much about the soil content or specific nutrients, but I do know that the quality and health of the soil will make a difference on the final product.
As I was reading through the parable of the sower, I noticed something different today. This is why I love the bible so much – I can read it a thousand different times and the Spirit is still able to reveal something new to me each time I read it. But that’s for a different day. Today, I noticed that the seeds all remained the same, but the soil was different in each scenario. The sower scattered the exact same seed, but whether or not it produced fruit was determined by where it landed.
Jesus goes into detail about all the places that the seed lands, including on the path where it was trampled on, on the rocky ground where it grew quickly then withered, among thorns where it was choked out, and among good soil where it yielded a crop. There is so much application among this passage, but this time when reading it through I could not help but think about how the state of my heart affects what I am able to take in and understand when I approach the word, when I hear the words of preachers, when I have conversations with other believers, when I enter into prayer, etc. I could take a seat in my morning chair, as I do every single morning when I have my time alone with the Lord, with the best cup of coffee and my heated blanket, yet if my heart is not in it I might as well go back to sleep. I could listen to the best preachers on repeat on YouTube, yet if my heart is not ready to receive the message I might as well forget it.
Where is your heart at? Are you tending the soil? Are you caring for your heart? Or are you letting the cobwebs set in?
I am still learning daily how to sweep out the cobwebs and how to prepare my heart to receive whatever the Spirit wants to teach me. The cobwebs could be anything – sin, indifference, business, anxiousness, you name it. There’s a lot of things that could really wreak havoc on my heart when I approach the word, and satan uses these things to prevent us from growing in our relationship with the Lord. I pray that, daily, I can pick up my sword and my shield and tend the soil of my heart with the help of my God who is more than capable of knocking out any barrier, so that I can continue to grow and learn all the things that God so desires to teach me.
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Scripture References:
Luke 8:5-8
“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some feel along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
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