Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!
Jesus taught many things, but there was one teaching that He set apart as most important. After He told a particular parable, His disciples came and asked Him what it meant. He said, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?” Mark 4:13
In other words - this specific parable is the key to understanding all of His teachings (we might say the entire Bible). If you don't understand it, you won't understand anything else. But if you do understand it, you can understand everything.
The story is of a farmer sowing seed, and the seed falls on 6 different types of ground. Three types of ground don't produce any fruit, and three types do produce fruit, but in varying amounts. There is no difference in the seed sown, but there are wildly different results in the harvest due to the condition of each type of ground.
The word of God is powerful like a seed is powerful. A single grain of wheat has within it the capability to feed a nation. A single seed from a pine cone has the power to create a forest which could supply oxygen, building timber, firewood, etc. indefinitely. That is the power of a simple, tiny, unassuming seed. And God’s word is such a seed: incorruptible and eternal. (1 Peter 1:23).
But in order for it to have any effect, it must be planted in good soil. And what is the soil that the word of God is to be planted in? Once again, Jesus doesn't leave any question: “the word… was sown in their hearts.” Mark 4:15
Your heart is the destination intended by the Lord for the seed of His word.
These words of the Bible - so simple, so small and unassuming - have the capacity to deposit the very life and nature of Jesus Christ inside of the heart, growing and transforming a life into one that looks just like Him. But how? They are “God seeds” containing the life of God: “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life”. John 6:63
But this seed requires good ground. It needs moisture and sunlight to grow. It must be free from weeds. It must be sought, as the psalmist says, with the whole heart.
Understanding the Parable of the Sower is vital to unlocking the power of the word of God.
Here is a link to all 3 Gospel accounts of this parable on one page.Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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