Do you know how to grow things? Do you have a garden? Do you have flowers or potted plants that you care for? Are you a farmer or have you worked for a farmer? Do you understand the analogies, the parables Jesus speaks concerning farming?
We grow a wide variety of plants. Some of us have potted plants and flowers in or outside our homes. Some of us have gardens, growing a variety of vegetables. Still others are farmers who plant large fields of grain and harvest them for the rest of us.
If we spend much time growing things, we know the environment can play a significant role in how well things grow. The composition of the soil plays key part. Hard clay and sand do not grow much. On the other hand, dark, rich, fertile soil provides the food plants need to grow. Besides the soil, we can add nutrients to help things grow. They come in a variety of compositions. Depending on our soil, we can mix the right amount of different nutrients to help things grow. And, of course, plants need water. For potted plants and even gardens, we can water them when there is a shortage of rain. In some places, farmers use irrigation to water fields.
When Jesus told the parable of the sower, there was not much the average farmer could do to add nutrients. They could add sheep or cattle manure, but they didn’t have the vast array of nutrients and technological understanding of the soil we have today. Neither could they control the rain any more than we can today. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the ability to irrigate their land as easily as we have today. So, when Jesus speaks of the different types of soils, they knew the soil made a big difference for how things grow.
We need to prepare our hearts to be like the good soil to receive God’s Word. We also need to recognize the type of heart someone else has so we can determine if they are ready to accept God’s Word. If they do not, we can help prepare them for it.
I pray we all evaluate our hearts. I pray we take time to evaluate the hearts of others. I pray each one of us will prepare hearts for the Word of God and plant seeds in the hearts that are ready to receive it. Prepare your heart. Help someone else prepare their heart. Plant the seeds of God’s Word. Help those seeds grow.
Matthew 13:3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow.”
Marty Pressey 