How’s Your Heart?

Spring is the season for planting. Packets of flower, vegetable, and herb seeds appear in the stores. You make your choices, prepare the soil, and plant your seeds. With healthy soil, sunshine, and rain, your seeds sprout and grow. Of course, weeds grow along with your seeds and compete for the nutrients in the soil. Weeding is a troublesome but necessary process. You remove the competition so your seeds can become plants that flourish and eventually produce the intended crop.

Sometimes seeds will sprout and grow in unexpected or surprising places, but producing an intentional, fruitful crop takes care. The methods may differ between Bible times and the present, but the essentials are the same.

Storytelling was a technique Jesus used to reach his audiences with truths about God’s kingdom. Agricultural symbols figured strongly in his stories because they were something most people he taught could understand.

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus uses a description of a farmer sowing seeds to symbolize the planting of God’s Word in human hearts. (Matthew 13:3-9; Mark 4:3-20; Luke 8:4-15) The sower, or planter, refers to Jesus Himself and to His followers who proclaim the gospel.

The farmer in Israel carried the seed in a bag slung over his shoulder. He took handfuls of seeds and spread them in a sweeping motion as he walked. (I’ve heard this referred to as “broadcasting.”) If you’ve ever planted this way, you know you have less control over where the seeds land than if you followed a carefully plowed furrow.

- “…some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it.” (Mark 13:4) The wayside refers to a road or path alongside the field or across the field where foot traffic would pack the soil down. The hardness of the soil leaves the seeds exposed so birds eat them before they can germinate. The hard ground refers to the hearts of people who hear God’s Word but are apathetic to its influence. Satan keeps them blind to the truth.
- “Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth…” (Mark 13:5,6) Some ground is not suitable for planting because of a rock layer under the surface of the soil. One thing I do when I prepare the ground for planting is to remove the stones, especially the large ones that interfere with the growth of roots once the seeds germinate and sprout. Without a root system to take in water and nutrients from the soil, the seedling plant will wilt and die. Some listeners enthusiastically embrace the gospel when they hear it. But as time goes by, they lose their excitement when they discover the cost of following Christ, and they turn away. Experiencing persecution, their insincerity is exposed. They’re not willing to allow God’s Word to root deeply in their lives.

- “And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it…” (Mark 13:7) Weeds like thistles use up the space, water, and nutrients necessary for a crop to grow. They crowd out the seeds. Even when a person is attracted to the gospel with good intentions of following Christ, the distractions of life draw them away. Things like money, possessions, and popularity become more important, and soon they forget God’s Word.

“But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced…” (Mark 4:8) The seeds that fall on good soil readily take root and grow to produce a crop. Like the good soil, the heart of a person who is willing to believe in Jesus who died for their sins and rose again, will let the seed of God’s Word sprout and take root and grow to yield a crop of spiritual fruit. This soil represents the true believer. And the fruit is evidence of a true believer.