The church in which I
grew up was very small compared to some of the "mega-churches" we see
in today's world. And while we were
small, we were still very convinced the gospel of truth was taught and
preached. I will always cherish the
memories of that little church, but especially the faith and devotion of those
that attended.
In that church, when little boys were turning into young
men, each one was given the chance to give a talk on some Bible theme during
the Wednesday night services. Yes, we
were all scared out of our wits during our first attempts to convey some
message, just knowing there were some that might be in the assembly, waiting to
catch us making a mistake.
Mom and I sat at the kitchen table while I worked on my
"talk." She thought I should
pick something easy to understand and relatively easy to explain. I think my talk may have lasted about seven
or eight minutes, in which I explained all of the religious meanings associated
with the parable of the sower. I would
be wrong to take credit for writing the message because mom wrote more of it
than me. It's a message I will never
forget and it carries some of the strongest of the biblical truths.
When Jesus taught the parable of the sower, he mentioned
first, the work of the sower. That was
easy for me to grasp, coming from a family with a heritage of dry-land cotton
farming. Jesus said some of the seed
which the sower scattered landed on hard ground and couldn't take root, so it
died. Some landed on ground that also
contained weeds and the weeds choked out the growth of the good crop. Then there was some that landed on rocky
ground and the seeds didn't have enough depth of soil with all those rocks, and
the roots could not develop and those weak plants died, too. Then Jesus
mentioned the good soil, the healthy soil on which the seed was scattered and
the good soil brought growth and maturity and an abundant harvest. Then in a strange statement, Jesus lets us
know when he is talking about the seed, he is referring to the Word of God.
The spiritual message of the parable is seen when the hearts
of men are compared to the variety of the types of soil. We can have a heart so hard, the Word of God
cannot establish itself. We can also
have our hearts so filled with the things of the world, the Word of God will be
choked out. And we can have a heart that
is shallow, never allowing the Word to grow within us. Notice in all three of the types of soil
mentioned so far, the condition of our hearts is the determining factor.
Then the good soil is likened to the open heart of man, and
the Word flourishes and grows and matures and yes, brings forth a great
harvest. When I was 13, I gave that
truth to a crowd of about 20 people in a little church. The message of sowing seed (the Word) and
actually being responsible as a receiver of the Word by making sure my heart
was open and receptive.
Today I am an old man, and still wrestle with times of a
hardened heart, a shallow heart, and an impure heart, but my trust is in the
God of grace and mercy as he helps, not only me, but you and everyone else to
receive his Word with joy. The heart
that receives and allows growth and maturity to have its way, is the heart of
God himself, at work inside you.
<ronbwriting@gmail.com>
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