The Seed Is Good. How’s The Heart?
Matthew 13:18-23 NKJV
18 “Therefore hear the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. 20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
Seeds are a fascinating subject. In this chapter, Jesus talks about seeds and the power they contain. The fact that the smallest of seeds can produce the largest of plants and trees is a miracle in itself. The Kingdom of God operates on seed time and harvest principles.
Our subject for today’s devotional is the sower sows the seed of God’s Word. We know by default that God’s seed is good seed. Peter called it incorruptible seed. What we want to look at are the different results from the same seed. Some seeds produced major crops, and other seeds produced nothing. If the seed is good, then the variable has to bethe condition of the soil. And the soil in this parable of Jesus is the heart of man.
The heart that did not understand the Word was not a function of intelligence but of receptivity. The wayside soil or pathway would be hard, and the seed was never allowed to take root. A heart unreceptive to God’s Word will not produce fruit because the enemy steals the seed. No seed, no fruit.
The heart that was stony soil was the heart that received the seed of God’s Word with joy. Joy indicates that, unlike hardened ground, this seed was believed on. This is the indication of a receptive heart. The seed came, faith came, and everything was great until. Until the problems and pressure hit. Then the joy and faith were abandoned. This is the heart that stopped believing when the pressure came. Abandoned seed produces no fruit.
The seed on the thorny soil was the heart that was distracted. Cares and desires of this world, the illusion that riches are the source of happiness, crowded the seed out of this heart. It’s not that this heart rejected the seed or gave up on the seed. This was the heart that had no time to nurture the seed that was planted. An overcrowded heart produces no fruit.
So the heart that produces receives the seed of God’s Word. This is the heart that stays steady in the face of pressure and problems. The good heart is focused on the seed above the everyday cares and allures of this life. The good heart is productive. I don’t know the determining factor of why some produce 100, 60, or 30-fold. But if I had to speculate, I would say the measure and attention we give the seed is the level of production in the amount of fruit.
The good news in this parable is that we are the ones who determine the condition of our heart. We all have the potential to be good ground. And good ground produces good fruit.