A Sower Went Forth to Sow
By Adam Blaney
“A
sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed,
some fell by the wayside…some fell on rock…some
fell among thorns…but others
fell on good ground” (Luke 8:5-8). In Luke Chapter 8, Jesus
told one of the
most well-known parables in the Bible, The Parable of the Soils. He
spoke
of the soil by the wayside, the rocky soil, the thorny soil and finally
the
good soil, each representing the way that a heart receives the Word of
God,
which is “the seed” (8:11). Often times, we use
this parable to describe the
work of preaching. We may say, “We’ve been sowing
the seed, but we haven’t
found very many good soils.” Or, “It is hard to
find good soil in this world.”
We say things like this from the perspective of the one who supposedly
is the
good soil. How about if we turn it around? How many times have we asked
ourselves, “What kind of soil am
I?” Let
us take a moment and reflect upon our own personal condition and
spirituality.
So, how about it? What kind of soil are you? Make sure to be honest with yourself! Are you the wayside soil? Has the devil stolen the good Word from your life? Do you have any thoughts or intentions of faithfulness? Do you think spiritually any other day than Sunday? Are you the rocky soil that never really allows the Word to implant itself in your life? Have you allowed the Faith to truly root itself and take hold in your heart? Does the Truth of God grow and flourish, or does it wilt in your spirit? Are you the thorny soil? Do other things stand between you and your faithfulness? Are personal pleasures and material things more important than right relations with God? When other things come up on Sundays or Wednesdays, which takes precedence: Worship or those other things? Or, are you truly the good soil? Has the Word of God truly taken hold in your life, and now grows beautifully, bearing much fruit for the Savior? Does it continually mold and shape your character and thinking? Only we can answers these questions about our lives! We know the answers! Now, will we be honest enough to admit them?
So, what kind of soil are
we? Are we really the good
soil? If we aren’t bearing the fruit that God desires, then
we are not the good
soil. It is that simple! So if we aren’t good soil, which
soil are we? We know
what we should be, but which one rightly and truly describes my heart
and my
life? If we are one of the other soils, obviously we are not in a good
situation. What will we do to make sure that changes happen? What will
we do to
fertilize our soil, and make it perfect for beautiful budding fruit?
The seed
is planted each time we read God’s Word. How will it grow?
