What Good Soil Does

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

WHAT GOOD SOIL DOES

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

Well, there it is, the full explanation of the parable of the sower. It is beneficial to know the meaning because this gives us clues to being able to understand other parables that Jesus did not explain to his disciples. Nevertheless, what we must be confident of is being the good soil. Having been a believer for years, we can be sure we are not like the seed that was sowed by the path, or on rocky places, for we have roots that run deep within the word of God, the spring of living water, and we have and are bearing fruit in our season and our leaves are not withering. We could even say that whatsoever we do is prospering. We have gone through some forms of persecution, nothing life-threatening, but mostly either name-calling, like dumb, or weak-minded or being ridiculous believing in the bible. None of those things ever or will ever cause us to fall away. However, the problem that we could face, if we are not careful, is the thorns of life. There are always going to be thorns the grow up among the seeds. Jesus is going to tell another parable just about the good seed and the weeds next, but even being the good soil, there are going to be worries of this life that grow up within the soil. It seems it is impossible to keep the weeds out, but we cannot allow them to choke us out, or to get distracted by the deceitfulness of wealth. It seems it is too easy to become so involved with this world, making our way, so to speak, working, not just for a sufficient income, but strive for enough to be able to store it up for those golden years of life. We also know that Jesus made it clear that we cannot serve two masters, therefore we need to remain focused on being that good soil and producing a crop. We do not think Jesus meant that we would produce more believers as in a hundred new converts, for then if we did, we could say, we are done, we have finished the race. Perhaps, we need not even bring a hundred, but only sixty or thirty to be able to say we are done. However, we do not think Jesus meant new converts, but rather that we would produce so much fruit in our lives, fruit that would overflow so many others will be able to enjoy the fruit we bear. Therefore, the evidence of being the good soil is that we will bear much fruit, we will bear, love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control, and we will bear it in abundance.