A Gravelly Heart~

“A farmer went out to sow his seed...and some fell in the gravel; it sprouted, but withered because it didn’t have good roots...(Luke 8:5 Message Version).”

Lessons in farming cont…

Some of the seeds the farmer sowed fell in the gravel.  They actually sprouted only to wither

away without good roots to keep them in the ground.  Jesus explains that, “The seeds in the gravel are those who hear with enthusiasm, but the enthusiasm doesn’t go very deep. It’s only another fad, and the moment there’s trouble it’s gone.”

Interesting, people, very interesting.  Right off the bat I am reminded of a story I once heard. 

A young wife and mother was struggling in her marriage. She and her husband were united in almost everything, but she was a church-goer, and he was not.  It became a really difficult topic between them, and she was very discouraged.  She wanted her husband to come to church with her and the kids, but he was not interested. Then one Sunday she came home from church super excited about the sermon she had just heard based on this passage: “Some husbands may not obey God's word. They are indifferent to any words about God. Their wives could win these men for Christ by the way they live without saying anything.  Their husbands will be captivated by their life of holy beauty. What matters is the wife’s inner disposition (1 Peter 3:1-2).”  

The game plan sounded easy enough: Don’t preach, don’t nag, don’t pester. Rather, cultivate inner beauty. The thought of captivating her husband and winning him to Christ by focusing on herself was appealing to her as well as encouraging.

But then reality set in.  That very same afternoon, hubby made a comment that if she hadn’t gone to church, they could have set out earlier to a football game.  And now there was so much traffic…

The words that she responded with can not be shown here, but honestly, I am inclined to give this girl a break.  Nevertheless, he knew how to push her buttons, and she, at the first sign of trouble, lost all her enthusiasm for taking the high road and keeping her mouth shut.   

What went wrong?  It sounds so judgmental to say that her heart was gravelly and that’s why the seed had trouble taking root.  Truth is, we all have gravelly hearts sometimes.  We know what God says in His Word, we know what we should do, we have every intention of doing it — of loving, forgiving, serving, giving, praying…but then something happens and we give up.  The Bible says we give up because the enthusiasm doesn’t go deep enough.  The way to get enthusiastic and stay enthusiastic about God is to connect with Him daily.  It is by communicating with God via prayer that we grow strong, deep roots -- roots that are deeply embedded in supernatural faith, the kind that is enough to survive setbacks and disappointments.  

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You for not being mad at us.  You accept us even when we are less than enthusiastic that You are our Father and that all Your power, glory, and protection is available to us.  When we do have those moments when the seed withers away, You are right there reminding us to shovel that gravel away and make way for new seeds.  Thank You! In Jesus’ name, AMEN!  

The Perfect Seed~

Greetings, all you precious saints of the Lord!

Today we continue with our lessons in farming.  The most important thing to remember is that God has given 

each of us the perfect seed; if we plant it in rich earth, it guarantees a bumper crop!  What is this seed?  

Luke 11:8 “The seed is the Word of God.”

God’s Word needs to be planted and take root in our lives because, “There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing us the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us (2 Timothy 3:16-17).”

After reading these two verses I realize that there’s a lot at stake.  I want – make that I need – to make sure that the soil of my heart is receptive to receiving God’s Word because when my faith is optimized, when I have all the truth I need to address the problems in my life, when my hard-headed and prideful ways get in the way of enjoying relationships and God gently nudges me to make things right, when I love the way God wants me to love, and when I am able to serve my family and others, well then, that’s when life is joyful and worth living!

The key is to plant in rich, fertile soil because while God offers the same seed to everyone, where it’s planted is quite another.  This paragraph from yesterday’s DEVO reveals some hindrances to that seed being successfully planted:

Birds eat up the seeds, seeds land in gravel

and don’t grow for a lack of good roots, and

seeds fall on weeds and try to grow but those

weeds strangle them. 

How do we prepare the soil to avoid these pitfalls?  We will continue with our farming series next week, but in the meantime, let’s ask God to begin the process by protecting the seed He has given us from those hungry pesky birds and by gently removing any gravel or weeds that might be growing in our gardens.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, So much gets in the way of Your life-saving, joy-giving Word from taking root and growing into a beautiful crop of blessings.  Help us today to be receptive and ready to all the good You want to do in us and to all the good You want us to do.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN~

Rich Earth~

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. Some of it fell on the road; it was tramped down and the birds ate it. Other seed fell in the gravel; it sprouted, but withered because it didn’t have good roots. Other seed fell in the weeds; the weeds grew with it and strangled it. Other seed fell in rich earth and produced a bumper crop (Luke 8:4-8 Message Version).”

Greetings~

I read everyday by choice.  No one is forcing me, and this shocks the people in my family.  None of them reads for relaxation or for fun; they only read when it’s required.  I love getting all cozy under Rayray’s old pink and white and tattered quilt – a relic from her teenage years – putting on my +1.25 reading glasses, loudly announcing that “I am going on an imaginary escapade with the cast of characters who are in the book I am reading at the moment so don’t bother me,” and locking the door!

If my door is locked, no one dares interrupt unless there is an emergency. And it is behind that locked door where I immerse myself in all kinds of adventures.  Mostly spy, but I am truly drawn to anything that’s lying around.  That’s how I found out I was married to a farmer.  Well, the etymology of Jorge’s name means, “farmer, a person engaged in agriculture, which is the cultivation of plants used to sustain and enhance human life.” (Thank you, Wikipedia).

And we would all be wise to be farmers ourselves.  It is vital to our Christian lives to produce a crop, and when we do, we too will “sustain and enhance human life,” mostly our own.

 Lots of stuff, however, gets in the way of successful farming.  Birds eat up the seeds, seeds land in gravel and don’t grow for a lack of good roots, and seeds fall on weeds and try to grow but those weeds strangle them.  But then there’s the seed that falls on rich earth.  It produces a bumper crop – an overflow, extravagant, and over abundance of blessings.

But what exactly does the seed represent? And the birds, gravel, and weeds? How about rich earth?  We will look at each of these in the next few DEVOs, but here’s a sneak peak.  “Rich earth” is symbolic of those people who with good, noble, perfect, and honest hearts are able to produce what is good no matter what! That’s what we want for us and our families!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Prepare our hearts to be rich earth.  This is the kind of soil that allows for an overflow of wonderful blessings, and that’s something we all need. In Jesus’ name, Amen~