“And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mark 4:8-9)
I mentioned to you one Sunday how I love a good story. Jesus was the master storyteller. He told stories that were known as parables. I enjoy reading the parables of Jesus. Jesus was a teacher, the best teacher, and He used these parables to tell stories. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Jesus was able to teach by giving images and placing the images into the listeners minds. Jesus would tell the parable and then apply it to the lives of the listeners. The parable today (Mark 4:1-20) talks about how the seed (teachings of God) are scattered on different types of soil or ground. The ground represented the listener’s heart. You can read this parable to identify each type of ground. The one I want to highlight is the one we need. We are told to have “good soil” so the seed that is scattered will allow us to grow.
I wish I had the skill to garden. My father grew vegetables. My wife’s grandparents gardened and grew vegetables. I get my vegetables from the grocery store. Nothing wrong with that, but I wish I could grow my own food. I tried to grow tomato plants once and it didn’t work. It didn’t work because we did not have the right type of soil. We lived in the western part of the state and the soil we had was too hard and would not allow the water to get to the seed to allow the seed to grow. As soon as you watered the plant, the water would just run off and go away from the plant, instead of penetrating the ground and feeding the plant.
Jesus challenged his followers by saying we need to make sure our soil (heart) is good and allows the teachings of God to penetrate our hearts and help us grow to be the Christians He wants and desires us to be. Having a heart that is like good soil means we have hearts that are easily molded. It means we can hear the message of God, and then we are willing to think about it, process it and see how God wants us to apply what we have heard to our lives to make us better Christians. Hard hearted people have a hard time letting God’s word help them grow. People who have hearts that are like good soil will be able to grow and mature to be strong Christians.
My prayer for you is this: As we live this day, and as we do our devotions, or listen to God’s teachings, ask God to help us have hearts that are like good soil that will allow the teachings to help us grow. Until next week…
Peace and Blessings… Johnny
