I recently was reading the parable of the sower in Matthew 13. I've heard and read this parable so many times growing up that I felt immune to the message. But I decided to read through it again any way. And man, God blew my mind. I just saw the whole passage in a new light.
Every time I've read this passage, I've skipped over all the lost seeds and pointed towards the good earth, thinking, yep that's the soil I'm in... so I can move on now. But no, this time I stopped, and I saw myself in one of the other seeds. Check out verse 22: “The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it." This passage stopped me in my tracks. This seed fell onto ears that wanted to hear...okay sounds good so far...but, weeds got in the the way! Weeds of worry and illusions about getting more, and wanting everything under the sun. These weeds strangled out what was heard! This hit home because I know that I definitely struggle with worry and with always wanting more. When I read this verse I immediately thought about the "American Dream." The "American Dream" is all about getting more and having the best of everything. I grew up in a society that taught me these values, but these values of materialism are really weeds! Weeds that can interfere with my acceptance of the Gospel. Materialism is actually a big problem and is something we should stop ignoring. No, I don't believe it's wrong to have things or to go shopping. But when our minds, and more importantly our hearts, are only focused on getting more, then we have a problem. At the end of the day, the Gospel needs to be enough for us. What Jesus did on that cross should be enough to satisfy the longing in our hearts. In verse 23, Jesus says that "the seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams." That's what I want. I want to make sure I hear the Gospel news and let it change my life completely. Only then will God be able to work through me in a way that surpasses what I can ever imagine. Check out the passage for yourself and try to see it in a new light. 18-19 “Study this story of the farmer planting seed. When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn’t take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it right out of that person’s heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road. 20-21 “The seed cast in the gravel—this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm. But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it. 22 “The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it. 23 “The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.” ~ Matthew 13:18-23 (MSG)
1 Comment
|
Archives
December 2018
|