It Took Me 32 Years to Figure This One Out....
Jesus Christ was arguably the best storyteller who ever lived. Teaching in parables was his preferred way of reaching the masses of people who would gather to hear him speak wherever he went. But unlike teachers of today, Jesus didn't tell stories in order to entertain his audience or to open up with some way for them to relate to his message. His storytelling was a great act of loving kindness to all that he came in contact with.
Jesus knew that not everyone in the thousands of people who heard him speak each day were going to repent and believe in him. He knew that not every single soul who heard his words were among the elect who would spend eternity with him someday. It was exactly the same way then as it is now...two people can pick up the same bible and read the same passage, and while a lightbulb goes off for one because God revealed the truth to them, to the other it could just be some nice but pretty meaningless words. Scripture tells us that it will be WORSE for someone who knows the truth but runs from it than for someone who never "got" the truth in the first place. So...when Jesus shared his message in stories, he was reaching those whose spiritual eyes had been opened on a deeper level while allowing those who would never know him to hear a story even if they missed the truth of it. He was saving the unbelievers from storing up wrath against themselves in judgement. The less truth they heard, the less they would be held accountable for.
"Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." Matthew 13:10-13
That is incredible to me. Even as Jesus walked among them, he was pouring out his love and mercy among those whom he knew would ultimately reject him. If they were never going to get it, at least they could be spared a little wrath for their ignorance. Yes, his storytelling was a gift from the most loving and gracious God.
God poured out his loving kindness on me this week as I finally "got" a story that he told thousands of years ago and which I have heard hundreds of times. It's one of those stories that church kids have heard since preschool...one that you probably know backwards and forwards if you're a church going type of person. How I missed the true and deeper meaning for all of these years is BEYOND me, but then again...that's exactly what this story illustrates.....
It's called the parable of the sower, and in it Jesus illustrates how dropping seeds on different types of ground will produce different types of results in the seed's ability to grow and flourish. You can read the parable in Matthew 13, but the gist is this:
Seeds that fall along the path are quickly eaten up by the birds and never get a chance to grow.
Seeds that fall on rocky ground will spring up quickly, but with little soil to take root in they will quickly wither away.
Seeds that fall among thorns will grow but will eventually be choked and overtaken by the thorns around them.
Seeds that fall on good soil will grow as they should. Some will produce more and some will produce less, but they will all grow.
Jesus later explained what all of this meant to his disciples.....
The seeds that fall on the path represents those who hear but do not understand the word of God. The evil one quickly comes and snatches away any truth that was sown there.
The seeds that fall on rocky ground represent those who hear the truth and receive it enthusiastically at first, but the moment anything starts to go wrong, they quickly wither away. They simply don't have a deep enough faith or root system to keep them going longterm.
The seeds that fall among thorns receive and know the truth, but they let all of the temptations and trappings of this world come along and choke the truth, making those seeds completely unfruitful.
The seeds that fall on good soil are those who hear AND understand the word of God, and there will be varying levels of understanding and growth among them.
So here I am going along my whole life picturing this illustration and thinking that we people represent the seeds that are being thrown around, and the ground we are being sewn into represents our level of faith or obedience...or maybe even our life circumstances. I remember many times trying to figure out where I was and how I measured up. "God, I hope I'm being put into the good soil...sometimes I fear I'm in the rocks or the thorns!"
But no. I had it all wrong, and maybe I'm the only one who never got this, haha. We're not the seeds, we are the soil. WE are the ground.
The seed that God is sewing is being sown into us, and that seed never changes. The seed is the Word of God. It's the truth, the never changing truth. When I realized this it was like the clouds parted and the angels began singing the hallelujah chorus. Of course!
So what that tells us is this: It doesn't matter HOW much truth God puts in front of a person. It doesn't matter how many times a person hears the truth. If they have a heart of stone like that hard path the seeds fall on, they are NEVER going to "get" the truth. They may hear it and hear it and hear it, and the devil will just come along and snatch it away every time.
It doesn't matter how many seeds of truth God drops into the person who never grows and deepens their faith. They'll just keep having those "come to Jesus" moments and get excited for a while only to quickly fizzle out again. They'll never really flourish.
God could drop a million seeds of truth into the one living among thorns, but as long as that person is busy loving the things of this world, any growth they have had will continue to be choked. You can't serve both God and the things of this world.
It's only those who hear and understand the word of God, who listen to it and follow it, who will have any chance of growing and reaching their full potential in Christ. Those who continuously seek him will continue to grow and grow and grow.
This is a total game-changing way of thinking and praying for me. Realizing that we are the ground reminds me that when I am praying for those whom I desperately want God to reveal the truth to pray that they BECOME fertile soil, primed and ready to receive the Word of God. I have always prayed for God to "remove their hearts of stone and give them a heart of flesh" but now I can truly see more deeply into this way of thinking. God must till us up, soften us and ready us, before we will be prepared to receive his truth.
I'm sure some of you are face-palming today and saying, "Adrien, Adrien, Adrien..." but I'm telling you, even though Jesus took the time to explain this entire parable to his disciples and to us, it took 32 years for my spiritual eyes to be opened to the true meaning of what he was saying. It's a huge reminder to me today of how we all have room to grow and how we will ONLY see the truth when God wants us to see it! Only he possesses the power to open our spiritual eyes and to transform us into fertile ground.
I mean...that sort of puts the fear of God into a person, doesn't it? Holy moly, that is so revealing about how dependent we all are on the mercy of our Father, and if you happen to be among those who are fertile soil today, PRAISE GOD, because you sure as heck didn't deserve that time and attention more than the person next to you who is hard as stone, but God CHOSE you and gave you that understanding. He farmed you right up! :) Why he chose you, I have no idea! So just thank God that he did! If you want to stay fertile and nutrient rich, ever primed and ready to receive the word, then your job is to be telling other people what you know constantly. God may use you to help till up someone else's heart!
If you are reading this and maybe a little worried about what type of ground you are or maybe none of this makes any sense to you at ALL...well I invite you to pray and ask God to give you understanding and make you into fertile ground today. You can totally do that. I guarantee if you ask God to make you fertile ground he will make you fertile ground, because only the one whom God has decided to make fertile ground would even ask to be made fertile ground! :D In other words, he's calling you out today, so praise the Lord! God will never reject the one asking for more understanding. Clearly, we all need a little more understanding!
Thank goodness that Jesus in his loving mercy speaks to us in stories so that one day, when the time is just right, we can get it! We can catch the truth. We can understand what he is saying on multiple levels so that the meaning continues to get ever deeper as our soil becomes richer and our roots become stronger.
I love it! And I love you, so have a great day my friends!
Jesus knew that not everyone in the thousands of people who heard him speak each day were going to repent and believe in him. He knew that not every single soul who heard his words were among the elect who would spend eternity with him someday. It was exactly the same way then as it is now...two people can pick up the same bible and read the same passage, and while a lightbulb goes off for one because God revealed the truth to them, to the other it could just be some nice but pretty meaningless words. Scripture tells us that it will be WORSE for someone who knows the truth but runs from it than for someone who never "got" the truth in the first place. So...when Jesus shared his message in stories, he was reaching those whose spiritual eyes had been opened on a deeper level while allowing those who would never know him to hear a story even if they missed the truth of it. He was saving the unbelievers from storing up wrath against themselves in judgement. The less truth they heard, the less they would be held accountable for.
"Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." Matthew 13:10-13
That is incredible to me. Even as Jesus walked among them, he was pouring out his love and mercy among those whom he knew would ultimately reject him. If they were never going to get it, at least they could be spared a little wrath for their ignorance. Yes, his storytelling was a gift from the most loving and gracious God.
God poured out his loving kindness on me this week as I finally "got" a story that he told thousands of years ago and which I have heard hundreds of times. It's one of those stories that church kids have heard since preschool...one that you probably know backwards and forwards if you're a church going type of person. How I missed the true and deeper meaning for all of these years is BEYOND me, but then again...that's exactly what this story illustrates.....
It's called the parable of the sower, and in it Jesus illustrates how dropping seeds on different types of ground will produce different types of results in the seed's ability to grow and flourish. You can read the parable in Matthew 13, but the gist is this:
Seeds that fall along the path are quickly eaten up by the birds and never get a chance to grow.
Seeds that fall on rocky ground will spring up quickly, but with little soil to take root in they will quickly wither away.
Seeds that fall among thorns will grow but will eventually be choked and overtaken by the thorns around them.
Seeds that fall on good soil will grow as they should. Some will produce more and some will produce less, but they will all grow.
Jesus later explained what all of this meant to his disciples.....
The seeds that fall on the path represents those who hear but do not understand the word of God. The evil one quickly comes and snatches away any truth that was sown there.
The seeds that fall on rocky ground represent those who hear the truth and receive it enthusiastically at first, but the moment anything starts to go wrong, they quickly wither away. They simply don't have a deep enough faith or root system to keep them going longterm.
The seeds that fall among thorns receive and know the truth, but they let all of the temptations and trappings of this world come along and choke the truth, making those seeds completely unfruitful.
The seeds that fall on good soil are those who hear AND understand the word of God, and there will be varying levels of understanding and growth among them.
So here I am going along my whole life picturing this illustration and thinking that we people represent the seeds that are being thrown around, and the ground we are being sewn into represents our level of faith or obedience...or maybe even our life circumstances. I remember many times trying to figure out where I was and how I measured up. "God, I hope I'm being put into the good soil...sometimes I fear I'm in the rocks or the thorns!"
But no. I had it all wrong, and maybe I'm the only one who never got this, haha. We're not the seeds, we are the soil. WE are the ground.
The seed that God is sewing is being sown into us, and that seed never changes. The seed is the Word of God. It's the truth, the never changing truth. When I realized this it was like the clouds parted and the angels began singing the hallelujah chorus. Of course!
So what that tells us is this: It doesn't matter HOW much truth God puts in front of a person. It doesn't matter how many times a person hears the truth. If they have a heart of stone like that hard path the seeds fall on, they are NEVER going to "get" the truth. They may hear it and hear it and hear it, and the devil will just come along and snatch it away every time.
It doesn't matter how many seeds of truth God drops into the person who never grows and deepens their faith. They'll just keep having those "come to Jesus" moments and get excited for a while only to quickly fizzle out again. They'll never really flourish.
God could drop a million seeds of truth into the one living among thorns, but as long as that person is busy loving the things of this world, any growth they have had will continue to be choked. You can't serve both God and the things of this world.
It's only those who hear and understand the word of God, who listen to it and follow it, who will have any chance of growing and reaching their full potential in Christ. Those who continuously seek him will continue to grow and grow and grow.
This is a total game-changing way of thinking and praying for me. Realizing that we are the ground reminds me that when I am praying for those whom I desperately want God to reveal the truth to pray that they BECOME fertile soil, primed and ready to receive the Word of God. I have always prayed for God to "remove their hearts of stone and give them a heart of flesh" but now I can truly see more deeply into this way of thinking. God must till us up, soften us and ready us, before we will be prepared to receive his truth.
I'm sure some of you are face-palming today and saying, "Adrien, Adrien, Adrien..." but I'm telling you, even though Jesus took the time to explain this entire parable to his disciples and to us, it took 32 years for my spiritual eyes to be opened to the true meaning of what he was saying. It's a huge reminder to me today of how we all have room to grow and how we will ONLY see the truth when God wants us to see it! Only he possesses the power to open our spiritual eyes and to transform us into fertile ground.
I mean...that sort of puts the fear of God into a person, doesn't it? Holy moly, that is so revealing about how dependent we all are on the mercy of our Father, and if you happen to be among those who are fertile soil today, PRAISE GOD, because you sure as heck didn't deserve that time and attention more than the person next to you who is hard as stone, but God CHOSE you and gave you that understanding. He farmed you right up! :) Why he chose you, I have no idea! So just thank God that he did! If you want to stay fertile and nutrient rich, ever primed and ready to receive the word, then your job is to be telling other people what you know constantly. God may use you to help till up someone else's heart!
If you are reading this and maybe a little worried about what type of ground you are or maybe none of this makes any sense to you at ALL...well I invite you to pray and ask God to give you understanding and make you into fertile ground today. You can totally do that. I guarantee if you ask God to make you fertile ground he will make you fertile ground, because only the one whom God has decided to make fertile ground would even ask to be made fertile ground! :D In other words, he's calling you out today, so praise the Lord! God will never reject the one asking for more understanding. Clearly, we all need a little more understanding!
Thank goodness that Jesus in his loving mercy speaks to us in stories so that one day, when the time is just right, we can get it! We can catch the truth. We can understand what he is saying on multiple levels so that the meaning continues to get ever deeper as our soil becomes richer and our roots become stronger.
I love it! And I love you, so have a great day my friends!
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