Luke 8:11-15

Luke 8:11-15

“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in the time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.”

When I first read this, name after name pops into my head of people that I know that Jesus could have been describing. Countless members of my family have heard the simple truth of the gospel and have not believed, I’ve seen people at school or church who are at first so eager to walk with Jesus and then fall away when it gets hard. And then there are those who hear the gospel and believe but quickly their career, school, or significant other becomes their god again. I am so quick to point my finger and say “they need to hear these verses taught in church next Sunday.” Very quickly I turned into the Pharisees who condemned the woman caught in adultery but did not repent of their own sins. But God is so faithful to correct me when I’m wrong that this didn’t last for very long. When I read the verses over again, really praying through them, I realize that each of the different soils describe me at one point or another in my life. The one who hears and believes but has no root is exactly how I was for a good portion of my childhood. I went to church and knew the answer to every question, but I had no real roots. I share a room with my sister who is two years younger than I am, and man, she used to annoy me so much. For anyone who has ever shared a room for any length of time at all, you can imagine the fighting that happened between two very different people who refused to give up their way. I can remember my parents telling me to die to myself and be the peacemaker which I knew were the right things to do, I just didn’t want to. I had the knowledge, but no roots. Therefore, no growth or fruit was being produced. Verse 15 talks about keeping the word and bearing fruit with patience. If you are having to exercise patience before there is fruit, then time is passing in which God is working but the fruit of that just isn’t showing yet. Psalm 27:13-14 are the verses I have to choose to rest in during this season of growing.