Be the Good Soil
“But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” – Matthew 13:23
Recommended Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:5-9; 5 Who do you think Paul is, anyway? Or Apollos, for that matter? Servants, both of us — servants who waited on you as you gradually learned to entrust your lives to our mutual Master. We each carried out our servant assignment. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plants, but God made you grow. 7 It’s not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. 8 Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. 9 What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God’s field in which we are working. (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
If you are a vegetable gardener, you have had the puzzling experience of different plants of the same variety producing different qualities of fruit when planted in the same soil. Perhaps a large rock is blocking the growth of the roots. Or perhaps a poisonous chemical substance was accidentally spilled on the ground. Lots of things can render soil unsuitable for seed.
Jesus identified the soil of the heart as the primary variable in spiritual growth (Matthew 13:1-23). If the soil is rocky or filled with weeds and brambles, the seed of the Word of God cannot spring up and bear fruit. But if the soil is “good,” then we “hear and understand” it and bring forth an abundant crop of spiritual fruit. And whose job is it to make sure the soil of the heart is “good,” prepared to receive kingdom teaching? It is every Christian’s responsibility to prepare his or her heart—to be the good soil.
Whenever you are about to receive the Word—before Bible study or a sermon—ask God to give you a heart of good soil.
”As seed is made for soil and soil for seed, so the heart is made for God’s truth and God’s truth for the heart.”
Richard Glover
© 2013 Turning Point
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