When the Cares of this World are Getting to You.

Jesus told a parable about the sower and the seed, and how the seed is planted on different kinds of soil. The soil represents the state of our hearts and of our minds, and our relationship to the word of God after we hear it being preached. There are four examples in the parable found in Matthew 13, one is the path, the other is rocky places, the other is among thorns and the last example is the seed that fell on good soil. In all these examples the condition of our hearts are represented as I will explain what they are in the parable.

The seed sown on the path represents a heart that doesn’t understand the word of God, the birds that snatch the seed represents Satan, who takes the word away from us. The rocky places represents our hearts when they have no root, we hear the word with joy but with no solid foundation to grow that word or seed, the seed can’t grow and we fall away. Our foundation has to be in Christ in this scenario for the word of God to grow. The seed that is sown among the thorns represents our hearts when we produce no spiritual fruit in our lives because the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. (Matthew 13:22)

And the last example of our hearts in response to hearing the word of God is the good soil. (Matthew 13:23) “But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” The good soil represents our hearts when they are ready and willing to hear and respond to the seed that is being sown. We understand it, and we cultivate it in good soil, not allowing weeds of worry and other “cares of the world” to choke out the word. Our foundation is deep, because our foundation is in Christ, this kind of soil or “heart” produces fruit or a crop, and in turn can truly bless others.

When we become a Christian, our hearts and our minds can be like these different kinds of soil. That is why it’s important to cultivate our understanding of the word of God, in order that we understand it properly and to do everything we can to keep ourselves from worrying too much, in order that the word of God can grow in us so that we can produce the fruit that God requires of us, in order to bless others. This is Mike.

Comments

The Parable of the Ten Virgins.

Matthew 25:1-13 I have discovered a remarkable interpretation of this parable that I would like to share with you. The story in the Bible goes like this: “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ 9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy som...

Age of Brokenness.

We are living in an age of brokenness, no matter what age you are, you probably have been touched with relationships falling apart, which causes more and more people to live in isolation. In this generation there is less of an incentive to heal and reconcile relationships, but that doesn’t excuse the amount of people who are broken. Why people don’t seem to be motivated to heal relationships is because our beliefs about faith and God have changed, really giving us less of an incentive to do what our religion says. If I act from my personal beliefs, but the person that I am responding to has abandoned religious beliefs, than the response to my wanting things to be better can be misinterpreted and rejected then by someone else. Generally when a society has expectations about broken relationships, loneliness and isolation, and the beliefs are generally accepted, society becomes a more compassionate society, because all value the same things. When religious values are undermined and ...

The Biblical Meaning of “Life in the Spirit.”

“Life in the Spirit” is an example that the Apostle Paul gives in the book of Romans starting in chapter 5 and going through to chapter 8. He begins by telling us we are justified by faith (5:1), and have gained access by faith into the grace of God (5:2). We have been delivered from God’s wrath (5:9) and we have been reconciled to God through the death of His Son (5:10). He goes on to explain that through Adam all die (5:12), and that the free Gift of God brings justification and righteousness to the believing sinner (5:15-17). Through our conversion we are baptized into Christ and into his death, which frees us from the law and makes us dead to sin (6:2-4). He explains that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we are given new life in Christ (6:4). Our old unregenerate self was crucified with Christ so that our body of sin might be done away with (6:5-6). Because we have died to sin, we now submit ourselves to God being that we are now under grace, not the law (6:8-1...

The Super Blogosphere of a parallel word.

Search This Blog