Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 168

June 17;    Matthew 13:8;    13/260(III);    ‘God’s Word, How Much?’

Matthew 13:8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

This is the parable of the sower and the seed.  Jesus tells us in Mark’s gospel concerning this parable that it is the key to all of the parables Jesus would teach on.  The seed sown is the Word of God and the soil types are examples of the spirit of people and the condition of their spirit.  This parable teaches so very clearly that the benefits and blessings you receive from the Word of God is completely up to you.  The seed sown on the pathway is trodden down.  The Word sown in a heart that is hardened to the Word will be stomped on by the world’s ways.  The seed sown on the rocky soil will only grow so much and then die.  Without the Word sending down roots to hold the Word steady, persecution will uproot the fragile growth and it will be gone.  The seed sown along with the weeds will not grow either.  The weeds representing the cares of this world and other interests will choke the Word.  Finally the good soil will produce a ‘Bible crop’, of varying amounts.  The type soil or spirit is, is up to each of us.  Do we let the world’s opinions crush the Word?  Are we so sensitive to what others say that we ‘wilt’ if they belittle the Bible?  Are our priorities such that if we have a choice we choose other things over the Word?  Even if our heart is good, the degree we allow the Word of God to germinate and grow in our spirit is up to us.  My prayer is that each of us will get a revelation of how incredibly important God’s Word is.  It’s our choice.