A Good Crop

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

A GOOD CROP

Luke 8:9-15

9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, "'though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.'   11 "This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

NIV

If someone has not accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior they are most likely not the least bit interested in what Jesus said, and they are blind to the truth of God. We understand that because before we entered the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ, we did not understand a word that was written in the Bible, we could have been reading Greek for as much as we understood. However, being in Christ and having the Spirit dwell within us, the scriptures are full, actually, dripping with truth. Therefore, we are among those to whom the knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of God has been given. Still, Jesus gives us the meaning of this parable. We have had the word of God sown in us, and it behooves us to understand which of the four types of people we are. Of course, we are the good soil because we have a noble and good heart, at least, we would think we do, for we have heard the word, and we have retained it, we have kept the word of God alive within us, and again we would think and hope that we are producing a good crop. But we are concerned if, in any way, we might have allowed the worries of life, riches, and pleasures to keep us from becoming as mature as we should be. We have known believers in the past who appeared to be not producing as good a crop as they should because of the distractions of worry, trusting in money more than God, and enjoying perhaps too many of the pleasures they have obtained for themselves. We must be careful not to become envious, or jealous of those who have become more invested in the ways of the world than in God, and yet consider themselves Christians. Let us live as good soil, always retaining the word of God in our hearts and minds and producing a good crop. This good crop could exist in different forms. It could be seen as the fruit of the Spirit, which would require becoming mature, as a tree must mature before it produces any fruit. This producing good fruit could be seen as bringing others into the Kingdom of God, which could be done through evangelism efforts, or being the light of the world, reflecting the glory of God in ever-increasing glory, so that people see Jesus in us and want peace we have within us. We do not think we reflect the glory of God by just being good, or doing good, but there must be a glow, like the light glows, giving light to the whole area we are in. Let us persevere and thus be the producer of a good crop.