Good soil

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

GOOD SOIL

Matt 13:1-9

13:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "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. 9 He who has ears, let him hear." 

NIV

We are at one of the more familiar parables that preachers have had a heyday with over the years. After he said this, his disciples are going to ask why he speaks like this. The reason we need to know this is because he tells them they know the secrets of the kingdom, but the people do not. This will be a great lesson for us when we get there, but for now let us consider the fact that as believers we too have been given the secrets of the kingdom. So the truth of this parable has not been hidden from us. Here we have four types of people as they relate to the truth of the gospel. When people hear the truth about Jesus. When they hear that in order to have eternal life, in order to go to heaven, in order to gain entrance into the kingdom of God, they must accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, becoming born again, each responds in one of these four ways. We all see this, and it seems so plain and without need of reiterating. The only response which we should draw our attention to is ours. How did we respond to the message of salvation? Surely we did not have it plucked away before it bloomed in our hearts. Surely we did not get all excited about being born again and then as soon as we faced a little adversity, we let all that excitement disappear and went back to our former life. Surely we did not let all the ways of the world choke out the excitement of about having eternal life. But have we produced a crop a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown in our hearts? Surely we consider ourselves the good soil. We have maintained our faith throughout our life since we accepted Jesus. We have had adversities and not wavered in our faith. We have had the opportunity to look to the world for our sustenance, or our own abilities, which if we adopted any of those outlooks we might in the category of the seed among the thorns, having our faith choked out by the world. But that is not the case, we are the good soil, but yet have we multiplied? That can be seen in two ways. First have we grown more believers? Have we shared our faith, shared the message and brought forth other believers. Sure we cannot save them, but we can plant the seed, or water one that has already been planted, or harvest one that was planted and watered by someone else. Yes, it is the Spirit who convicts, but it is us who bring the word to life for those who are convicted. The other way we could look at being the good soil that produces a crop a hundred fold is within our own heart and life. When we become a believer, when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, when we were born again, did we grow? Has the word of God grown a hundred fold in our lives? Has it produced more than just being saved? Are we doing something with the seed planted in us? Have we gained both wisdom and understanding? Have we moved past that first year? Hopefully we do not have one year’s experience ten, twenty, thirty or forty years, knowing and living based on what we learned in the first year. Have we matured, not just grown older, but actually grown in our wisdom and understanding? Have we grown in our walk with Jesus, being more and more like him? Has the seed sown within us produced that hundred fold return, or even sixty or thirty? What kind of tree are we? How much fruit do we bear? What kind of good soil are we?