What Have I Done With The Word?
Scripture
Mark 4:14-20
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–thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”
Observation:
The Word of God is being sown all the time. How do I respond? I guess I can look at the fruitfulness in my life. Is there any fruitfulness? Can I lose the harvest in my life because I neglect the Word? Possible responses: 1. I don’t receive it at all because Satan interferes and the Word makes no root at all in my heart. 2. I receive the Word with joy. I’m excited about what I hear, but it is a shallow understanding as soon as things get tough I turn from the things of God. 3. I hear the word and and have a deeper understanding, but I allow other things to grow up with the Word: deceitfulness of wealth and desires for other things choke the Word. 4. I receive the word accept it and it produces a crop.
Review: my possible responses:
- Satan keeps me from the Word completely
- I’m shallow and not willing to stand on the Word in tough times
- I understand the Word let it grow but allow greed and covetousness grow alongside the Word and choke it’s affect in my life
- I accept it as it is and allow God to totally change me and those around me.
Application:
So, where do I believe I am? Who knows how many times Satan has blocked God working in my life because of sinfulness and hardness of heart? Do I abandon the things I know to do as soon as things are hard? When facing persecution or the fear of persecution or being stretched out of my comfort zone or because of temptation I know I have missed the fruitfulness of God’s Word many times. What about greed and covetousness? What is a priority in my life now? What am I willing to give up to get God’s word in my life? What comes before God’s Word? Wow! A lot. It isn’t hard to see how often I lead a life of comfort and apathy. It’s easy to get excited but to remain shallow. It doesn’t take long to fall into building my own self instead of the Kingdom.
Prayer:
God forgive me for having a hard, shallow and weed filled heart so many times. I pray the true fruitfulness of the Word will take root in my heart. Help me to love the Word to make time for Your Word and to be willing to be transformed by Your Holy Spirit. Work in my O Lord I pray.
