Tag Archives: Parable of the Sower

Managing Your Soil – (The Parable of the Sower Part 3)

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I’m a big lawn guy.  I love a good looking yard and I work probably too hard to have one.  There are a lot of keys to a good lawn and I’ll come back to this analogy at another time.  But today I want to talk about preparing the soil for seeding.

If you want to have a good lawn you have to prepare the soil.  If you just throw seed on top of the bare spots nothing will happen.  You can water it and everything else, but it won’t matter much.  What you need to do is till up the soil.  Get at least three inches deep.  You need to get rid of anything else growing there as well as any sort of rocks or debris.  Then you rake it smooth and if you’re really into it, which I am, then you get a roller and roll it smooth.  Then and only then do you drop some seed, spread evenly of course.  Then you gently rake it in to the loose top soil.  Then I typically throw some straw on top of it to protect it from erosion and getting washed out.  Finally you water it . . . . for a while.  You have to keep it moist until it grows.  This is to say nothing of the maintenance of the yard to keep out weeds and encourage deep rooting.  It’s a continual process.

The same is true of our hearts when it comes to the soil we become for the word of God.

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What Do The Soils Look Like & Which Soil Are You? (Parable Of The Soil Study – Part 2)

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Last week we began to look at the parable of the sower from Luke 8.  Today I want to take a closer look at what these soils look like.

The first soil is that by the road.  This is the soil that the seed falls on but then the devil comes and steals the word before it can take root.

This soil is what we might call the people who reject the word outright.  They have a hard heart and therefore the word just stays on the surface.  It’s like when I seed my lawn and some of the seed gets on the driveway or sidewalk.  It has no chance.

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How Long Until You Know Which Soil You Are? (Parable of The Sower Part 1)

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In Luke 8:4 Jesus shares the parable of the sower.  Jesus tells of how a farmer spreads seed.  Some falls on beside the road and is trampled or stolen by birds.  Some falls on rocky soil and grows quickly, but withers quickly because it has no root.  Some falls in the soil where there are thorns and grows well until a certain point and then it is choked out.  Other seed fell on good soil and grew and produced much fruit.

Jesus later explains this to the disciples.  He says that the sower is God and the seed is the word of God.  Those on the side of the road are those who have heard the word but devil comes and steals it from their heart so that they can’t be saved.  Those on the rocky soil are those who receive the word with joy, but then, because they have no root, when tempted fall away.  Those who are among the thorns are those who receive the word and grow but are choked out by the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life and don’t produce fruit.  The final group are those who receive the word with an honest and good heart, hold fast and produce much fruit through perseverance.

This is a tough parable for a lot of reasons.  First, it appears that only 25% of people end up producing fruit.  Although to be fair, it doesn’t say anything about percentages.  Heck 90% of the seed could have fallen on any one of the soils.  But as someone who has tried to spread the word to people for over two decades, it sure does seem like 25% of people being the good soil seems about right.

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