What is the condition of your heart? Jesus describes four different kinds of heart in one of his well-known parables, often called, the Parable of the Sower. A parable is a story about everyday life that Jesus uses to illustrate spiritual truths and so let’s look at this story and see what Jesus wants to show us.
One day a farmer sows his seeds, and as he does some falls on hardened soil, some on shallow soil, some on thorn infested soil, and some on good soil. Seed represents the Word of God, while the soil represents the condition of people’s hearts.
Let’s begin with the hardened soil. As people trampled on the ground it became hard, and the seed couldn’t penetrate, so the birds came and had a feast! This is one of the few parables where Jesus tells us the meaning. In Matthew 13:19 he says, “When anyone hears the message about the Kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.”
When some people hear the message about Jesus and the cross it makes no sense to them. Perhaps they think, ‘Why would I believe that? It seems ridiculous!’, or ‘That is for people who are weak and need a crutch.’ Such thoughts or similar words spoken by family or friends, trample on the Word they had heard, and the devil snatches it away as he doesn’t want them to believe. Have you been a person like that? Ask God to help you understand. He wants you to know Him.
Many reading this however do believe in Jesus, and yet it is possible for our hearts to become hard. Just like fallow ground, our lives become unproductive. As it says in Hosea 10:12, “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in accordance with kindness; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord that He may come and rain righteousness upon you.”
It is time to dig up the soil of your heart again! Ask the Holy Spirit to dig deep and show you anything that is preventing you from being fruitful, then ask God’s forgiveness. Choose to do what is right. Let’s be those who produce a good harvest, not just 30-fold, or even 60, but 100-fold. As it says in Proverbs, “Above all else, guard your heart (the soil of your heart), for everything you do flows from it.”
