Devotional: The Parable of the Sower!

Mark 4: 1-20

Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said:3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that,

“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’[a]”

13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

My SECOND YouTube video! It is such a treat making these devos. For this devotional, we talked about how Jesus taught that there are basically FOUR different ways we can receive and react when we encounter God's word.

They are...

1) You hear the word, but it doesn’t settle and resonate anywhere in your heart so it can quickly be moved over and replaced by temptation or distraction.

2) You hear the word and you get a glimpse of the everlasting joy… but it doesn’t take root in your heart so, like the first kind, it can quickly fade and be replaced by other things.

3) You hear the word and it takes hold but then life happens and you dismiss it.

4) You hear the word and you give it good soil to take root in and grow. You hear it. You accept it. And you produce crop- it is fruitful.

Here is the visual used in the video to help compare Jesus' teaching to the crowd versus when he further explains it to his disciples!

When we look at scripture, we need to make sure that we are being honest with ourselves about where our heart is. We need to make a conscious effort to open our minds and hearts to receive God's word in good soil so that it can grow and multiply.

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