Make It Stick
Daily consistency in our devotional life increases the possibility of making this fresh start stick. We won’t know if the change is permanent until we go through our first test. Often, it isn’t until the first sign of trouble appears that we realize something isn’t right. It’s only then that we realize there are areas in our life that are hindering our growth. They are preventing the seed of God’s Word from properly growing. We need to remove those so our hearts are fertile soil
Matthew 13:4-8
“A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
How Ready Is Your Heart?
The parable of the sower is really about the state of the soil in our hearts. The seed is the Word of God. When it enters our heart, it either falls on a hardened heart, shallow rocky soil, in the middle of weeds, or on fertile soil. Each of those types of soil represents our readiness to receive the good news of Jesus Christ.
Squeezed Out
The harden path shows a heart that is closed to anything of God. It has become hard because of something in our past has closed our hearts. This soil isn’t hopeless, but it will take a work of the Holy Spirit to soften it. The rocky soil represents a heart that is open to the gospel, but it can’t go too deep. Rocky soil is preventing the word from fully developing a deep root system. Seed is planted and starts to sprout, but the trials of life make it wither quickly due to a weak support system. Finally, you have seed that falls on soil and takes root, but the competition from weeds make it impossible to produce fruit. The thorns represent the love of the things of this world. Our heart is divided between the things of God and the cares of the world. That chokes out any hope of true growth.
A Bountiful Harvest
The final soil is what we want our heart to be, fertile soil that is free from rocks and weeds. It is deep rich soil that can produce a crop that produces one hundred times what was planted. How do we get our heart to be this fertile? It starts with allowing the Holy Spirit to work on us. When he shows us rocks that need to be moved or weeds that need to be pulled we need to do it. This will allow the seed of the word to take root and grow.