The Parable of the Sower

We’ve all heard the parable.  A sower was sowing his seed.  Some fell along the path and was trampled, some fell on the rock and withered away, and some fell on the thorns and was choked out.  But then some fell on good soil, and it was blessed and grew abundantly.

This parable used to scare me.  Growing up, I used to be afraid.  I remember praying, “God, I love you, and I want to know you, but I don’t know which kind of soil I’m in.”  Was this about salvation?  About election?  Rather than pursuing it and finding out, I just kind of ignored it.  But yesterday I read through it.  And then I read through it again.  And you know what?  I was blessed!  This parable is about our hearts!

The seed that has fallen along the path and then been trampled happens when our hearts hear God’s Word, maybe in a sermon or at a retreat, and we feel touched and moved.  But these people don’t really make room for God or His Word in their lives.  The devil comes along and tramples the little bit of truth that they have heard, and it is devoured.  The seed that has fallen on the rocks is interesting.  A seed cannot build roots among rocks.  So the people hear God’s truth, and they love it.  But without allowing it to root in their lives, the sun scorches any fruit that was able to come from it.  The last seed, the one that has fallen on the thorns, has the opposite problem.  This seed does grow roots.  But because of the thorns there is not fruit that develops.  These thorns can be the busyness of our lives.  We are quite capable of filling our lives with carpools and church functions and taking care of husbands and children, none of which are bad!  But these cannot take away from our number one purpose in life, which is to glorify God.  Another “thorn” that can choke us out is education when it comes to God’s Word.  We can study and study and study, and know all of the right answers.  But if we are too busy learning about God’s Word and not spending enough time living it out, that is a major thorn.

The parable of the sower… who would have thought that I could love that!