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.

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