By: Joe Buckingham
Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. (Matthew 13:8)
One of the things Jesus’ teachings do for us is give us a voracious appetite for the future. This is the conclusion of his famous parable about the farmer scattering seeds over hard, rocky, thorny and good soils. In three of the four cases, nothing is accomplished. But in the good soil — which Jesus goes on to explain as “someone who hears the word and understands it” — each seed produces dozens and dozens of new ones. Jesus really liked the seed metaphor. He said, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” For most of our lives, we live sometime after the falling/dying and sometime before the coming up of the huge crop. We have to get used to all the falling and dying that is somehow part of God’s plan. Jesus said we have to lose our life to gain it. But if I get to be part of a 100 times increase, well then I’m OK to spend some time in the dirt. Your future is where that comes true.
Lord, I want to be better soil. I’ve got some responsibility to deal with my own hardness, rocks and thorns. If I hear your word and understand the sacrifice it requires, I believe I will be soil you can use for something amazingly productive. Amen.
