'The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced. And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!'
Mark 4:18-20
"...but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced…."
Consider the location, company, environment of the seed that thrives compared to the seed that is choked out- these are all things we have the power to choose with intentionality, (especially those of us with access to the internet!)
Where are we living? Are we living among the godly? Is that with whom our roots are going down deep? Or are we growing roots of intimate relationship among wild uncultivated plants, not of the Lord’s planting?
The good and fertile soil, is soil that has been worked, plowed, fertilized, weeded, and planted by the Lord, the real people of God, the church. The company we keep here surrounds us with a healthy place where we can grow and be fruitful in our faith.
Alternatively we may choose to grow in a place overrun with these things that have the power to choke out God’s word in our lives: the worries of this life, lure of wealth, and desire for other things.
This is why we should earnestly seek to build our deepest relationships, lifestyle, and intimacy with and around those in Christ rather than those in the world. We must remember when we are in the world (maybe our workplace, or school, or community), that we are not called to be OF the world, but to TRANSFORM the world as God’s holy ambassadors, relating to others in the love of God that compels us to pull them out of the fire of hell, showing mercy and fear that hates anything touched with sin. Life is not a picnic, it is a war with eternal consequences for all those we are in proximity with.
Verses to Think About:
keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life.
save others by snatching them from the fire; and to still others, show mercy tempered with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.
2 Cor 5: 14,15
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.…
2 Cor 5:19, 20
And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God.
Prayer:
Lord, help me to develop and grow in close relationship with others who love You so that I will become fruitful in my faith.
Watch The Visual Bible where Jesus shares the parable of the seeds and the sower:
