I have been teaching a series entitled, “Refined Focus”, all year. I believe it is critically important that we maintain our focus on God, His Word, and His purpose for our lives. We have been studying the parable of the sower for a few months and within this study we have looked at the thorny ground for a few weeks. Let’s get back to it this morning.
“The farmer is like someone who plants God’s teaching in people. Sometimes the teaching falls on the path. That is like some people who hear the teaching of God. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the teaching that was planted in them.
Other people are like the seed planted on rocky ground. They hear the teaching, and they quickly and gladly accept it. But they don’t allow it to go deep into their lives. They keep it only a short time. As soon as trouble or persecution comes because of the teaching they accepted, they give up.
Others are like the seed planted among the thorny weeds. They hear the teaching, but their lives become full of other things: the worries of this life, the love of money, and everything else they want. This keeps the teaching from growing, and it does not produce a crop in their lives.
And others are like the seed planted on the good ground. They hear the teaching and accept it. Then they grow and produce a good crop—sometimes 30 times more, sometimes 60 times more, and sometimes 100 times more.” (Mark 4:13-20 ERV)
The people Jesus likened to the thorny ground are people who receive the Word, but then allow their lives to become “full of other things”. The picture Jesus gives us is one of competing priorities. The seed of the Word has been sown in their heart, but so has other seed. The Word is in there, but so are cares, lusts and selfish desires. So while the Word is attempting to grow and produce, there are weeds competing with it, and in this case the weeds overtake the Word.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
- If you have a beautiful orange grove and you decide to plant apple seeds, the soil is going to produce apples. The soil is not going to fight back and say, “Hey, oranges is what I produce!” No, the soil is going to produce whatever you sow into it. So if you sow something you don’t want, you are going to produce something you would rather not have.
- All soil knows how to do is crack open seed and produce whatever is IN it! You can’t sow apples and then pray for oranges. Whatever a man sows is what he is going to reap (Gal 6:7). The soil doesn’t discriminate. It simply receives whatever you sow into it, it cracks open the seed, and it causes whatever is IN the seed to produce. This is the picture Jesus gives us for both His Word (seed) and the things that compete with His Word (seed), like the cares of this world, the love of money and the lust for other things.
- If you don’t like the harvest you have been reaping, all you need to do is check the seed you have been sowing.
- You cannot sow one thing and then pray for a different harvest. The only way to change the harvest is to change the seed.
- Jesus likened your heart to soil. He then painted the picture of the soil of your heart receiving the seed of the Word. If left alone, the soil of your heart will crack open the seed of the Word and cause it to produce a harvest. However, if you choose to sow competing seed into the soil of your heart — seed like the cares of this world, the love of money and the lust for other things — the soil of your heart will crack open the competing seed as well. Your heart will cause any seed you sow into it to grow. In this case the competing seed grows into weeds that choke-out the Word and keep it from producing in your life.
- God has sown His Word in your heart. God’s Word will work, if you allow it to work. But if your life becomes FULL of other things, the competing seed will take priority over the Word and you will reap a harvest; it just won’t be the harvest God wanted for you.
- What seed are you sowing into the soil of your heart? Whatever you sow, your heart is going to cause to grow!
Closing Confession: Father, this is a season of refined focus for me. I bring my life into focus in 2016 by meditating and medicating on Your Word day and night. Your Word is seed and my heart is soil. The soil of my heart is going to crack open whatever seed I sow into it. Therefore, I declare that I am careful not to sow bad seed. I carefully and prayerfully consider what I allow through my eye and ear gates. Whatever I allow in, will work its way down into the soil of my heart and my heart will cause it to produce. So I give Your Word first place in my life. I fill my heart with Your Word daily. I meditate and medicate Your Word day and night. This way my life becomes FULL of the harvest You desire! I declare this by faith! In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
