Good soil makes a huge difference in the harvest a farmer can expect.
In Luke 8:4-15, Jesus told a story that reflected the farming practices in his time. A farmer would sow by hand, scattering seed in the field as he walked along. Now we might be tempted to think that a lot of seed was wasted as the farmer spread it wide. After all, a portion of the seed fell in places too poor to produce a crop.
But Jesus was not trying to teach people good planting practices. He was asking everyone to consider this story from the Father’s point of view; something that very few of His listeners seemed to be able to understand. Even His disciples had to ask Him what the story really meant.
This story forces us to look at the condition of our own hearts. While we would like to think of ourselves as good soil, most of us know how the busyness of life, as well as the heartaches and fears we face, can choke and wither and snatch our faith away. Perhaps we are tempted to feel discouraged as a result.
But Jesus reassures us with an amazing truth: good soil exists as well. Some seed sent its roots down deep and produced a hundredfold harvest. Jesus said in Luke 8:8, “Other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
As we continue in our sermon series called “Parable” that has us looking at the story of our lives, the hope is that we will examine our own hearts and be challenged to have a heart that is fertile soil to hear God’s Word. My prayer is that we are encouraged to have a life story that produces a bumper crop of righteousness…a life that also blesses others.
