Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 82

March 23;      Mark 4:20;       32/260(IV);        ‘It’s Your Soil’

Mark 4:20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred." 

In this very important parable, the seed is the Word of God and the soil is our spirit.  The Lord Jesus always used illustrations that the common people would understand.  Most of them were farmers, they grew crops, they knew seed and they knew soil.  They would surely understand the various types of soil, only wanting the good soil for their crops to yield the greatest harvest.  These farmers would be very careful not to waste seed on hard ground, they would remove the stones and add soil so that the stony ground could produce a good crop and finally they would remove the thorns so that the thorns did not choke the Word, limiting its fruit production.  The Lord told us the characteristics of the soils and the challenges they presented.  If the farmer could help the soil and remove hindrances to fruit production, so too can we as Christians.  If we are diligent to spend time in the Word, the seed will begin to work its way into the hard ground.  Trials and persecution represent the stones in the stony ground.  If you are a sincere Christian, the approval of others concerning your life will not matter.  We do not flaunt our Christianity, but before long we realize that only Jesus Christ is the way and the truth and the life.  Thorns represent the desire for the things of this world more than the desire for the things of the Lord.  Again, if we ‘mean business’ with Jesus it will not take very long before all of those things that were so important to you, no longer are.  As I thought about the blog concerning the sower and the seed, the Lord impressed upon me that simple truth that no soil type needs to remain in the less productive manner.  It’s my soil and as a Christian I can make it better.