Just one

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

JUST ONE

Matt 13:18-23

18 "Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." 

NIV     

                

As we have been knowing this explanation all while we have been working our way through the complete narrative piece by piece, we are now at its conclusion. Jesus explains the meaning to his disciples and thus also to us. Certainly, as we stated previously we are not those who the evil one has snatched the word from our heart. We are also not the ones who have no root and fell away when some form of adversity came our way. However the one who allows the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth may give us a moment to pause and consider if we get caught up in this situation more than we want to admit. We want to be the good soil, but do we look more like this type of seed then that of good soil? Yet is there a possibility we could be a combination of the two. We can love the Lord our God with all our heart but it is possible to get distracted by the cares of this life. It is doubtful we would be deceived by wealth, yet it seems some believers might. This is troubling to consider we might allow the worries of life to infiltrate our lives. Should we not trust our Lord completely? Should we not be completely at peace in every situation life brings us? It is difficult at times to ignore some of the cares or concerns and those do include our financial condition. We are more than aware we should not store up wealth. But life brings those moments when we would like more than we have. So then can we be the good soil and that which get choked out at the same time? Do we vacillate between the two? That just should not be. We need to settle into being the good soil producing more than what was sown into our hearts. As we already considered that can be in several different ways. Having the truth of God multiply within our heart as well as sharing our faith and bringing others, or introducing others to Jesus. Yes, it comes down to being completely sold out fully trusting Jesus with every aspect of our lives. Nothing, not a single thing will every take away one little bit of our trust and faith in Jesus. We reject being choked out, we reject the cares of the world, we reject the deceitfulness of wealth and we take our stand against any of the attempts of the evil one to distract our life plan of trusting God for all we are, all we have, and all we do. We are the good soil.