Observation: As Jesus explains the parable of the sower, he reviews what happens to the seeds that don't produce. All the seed is identical ... some does nothing, some fails, but some produces a wild abundance! The differences are found not in the seed - the gospel message of salvation - but in outside factors.
-- Birds are satan who actively works to take the good news away entirely.
-- Underlying rocks are hidden issues that prevent a believer from deepening their faith.
-- Thorns are the earthly distractions that eventually kill belief in salvation.
In this metaphor, living plants all represent the elements of life. A good life - a life full of nourishment and health - is abundant grain. A flawed life - one filled with wealth, success, delights, and comforts - is thorns. There is a consistency of active/passive element in this metaphor. We see satan as truly being active, working to attack God's word. We see hidden rocks being completely passive, just as emotional issues and internal thoughts within a person that prevent belief are often unknown to others. Then we see the plants ... they all are grown and behaving in a manner that advances themselves, visible to any observer, yet not with active malice. Rather, they just are doing their thing, and that activity happens to kill faith.
Application: As we have so many discussions about the issues of this world, it is interesting to note this idea ... there are personal issues within people, and there are elements of active evil perpetrated by satan against God's creation and Jesus' church, but then there are those things that are simply part of this fallen world, which become an alternative life to one of faith.
When I put the Lord first and use his word as the lens through which I see the world, choices are clear (though not always easy). When I put the world first, there often doesn't even appear to be choice. What aspects of "the world" can become first and cloud faith? Currently, I would say ... political debate, social conflict, societal norms ... just to name a few. In these cases, there are not only strong public opinions, but even opinions that sound morally right and objectively accurate. Yet prioritizing even those good elements of the world is a life that stands as an alternative - and opposed - to a life of faith.
I like blackberries. I could be happy picking and eating blackberries, making cobblers and pies, adding them to homebrew, etc. Yet those three things I just mentioned - cobblers, pies, and beer - are all absolutely dependent on grain! No fruit from any thorny bush can sustain my life. Only the grain of the Lord's truth, and faith in salvation, can do that.
Prayer: Lord, I choose a life completely focused on you, your word, your truth, and your promise. To extend your own metaphor, may I keep your sustaining grain central to the diet of my life, and the singular food by which I make all other meals in my life. Amen.
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