Good Soil

As a large crowd as gathering, and people were flocking to Him from every town, He said in a parable: "A sower went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Other seed fell on the rock; when it sprang up it withered, since it lacked moisture. Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. Still other seed fell on good ground, when it sprang up, it produced a crop ; 100 times what was sown." As He said this, H calls out, "Anyone who has ears to hear should listen." 

"This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, welcome the word with joy. Having no root these believe for a while and depart in a time of testing. As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit. But the seed in the good ground- these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it by enduring." Luke 8:4-8; 11-15

There is always going to be seed and soil, however I have the responsibility of providing fertile soil so that the word of God can germinate and produce a good crop. In our modern culture even our emails are on our phones, if we pick it up first thing in the morning there are red flags demanding our attention. If the red flags rule my heart is already stolen before I get to the word of God, the word will fall on the path of life and be trampled under foot.

However, if I ignore the red flags and purpose to pick up my bible first, yes I can read it on my phone as well, but I prefer the real thing, the paper version as there are no red flags there. If I am away I use the bible on my phone but it is not the same. As I read I pray for insight and understanding.

If I end my day and begin my day in the prayer and the word my soil is better, however if I end my day in front of TV, on Facebook or Twitter, then my soil is not so good.

I attend church every week, the cares of this life cannot squeeze out the hearing of the word of God, it is most important. I also have podcasts I download from the Internet and I look forward to them like anticipating a good meal. I love the meat I am served. I might even end the day listening to one of these. I find I sleep better on a podcast than a pill.

You can test your soil condition by how it receives the word of God, can you sense your flesh squirming? Do you sense something is wrong? Immerse yourself in worship, come before the Lord and allow yourself to be broken and cleansed.

Unless we stay broken and soft the word will not penetrate, in fact we become rock.

Two nights ago,m I planted two small trees. I made sure I dug out a good space, put in a bag of good soil and planted the tree. These trees are important to me and so I will ensure they receive the best start and continued care, I water daily.

We tend to care more for our bodies than we do our spirits and souls. Having a fit body is only a third of the way there. A fit spirit is of more gain, then a fit body along with a fit soul (mind, will and emotions). All are important but the most important is my spirit. It holds the other two together.