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c) Jesus Explains the Parable of the Sower and the Ground with its Four Kinds (Mark 4:13-20)
MARK 4:13-20
13 He said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How will you understand all of the parables? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown; and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes, and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 16 These in the same way are those who are sown on the rocky places, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 They have no root in themselves, but are short-lived. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they stumble. 18 Others are those who are sown among the thorns. These are those who have heard the word, 19 and the cares of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20 Those which were sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, and accept it, and bear fruit, some thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times.”
The word of Christ is powerful. It contains all the potentials of the kingdom of God. As a grain of wheat produces the whole plant with the stem, roots, leaves, and head, with the power of growth and ripeness, so the word of God contains the power for kindness, faith, joy, peace, humility, purity, and submission to Jesus.
Open yourself at all times and completely to the word of your Lord, that you may be filled with the fruit of his righteousness: Be aware that the devil does his best to hinder your growth and your deep penetration into this living word. He may come to you after you have read the Bible, or left the meeting, and may entice and lead you into lusts and exciting temptations, and let you hear important news, and anesthetize you with the clamor of the capital and big cities. Therefore, the most important time in hearing the word of God is the ten minutes after leaving the meeting. What do you do at that moment? Do you pray that the word may be established in you? Do you keep it deep in your heart? Or do you forget it because of the hypocritical, tasteless words of the world around you?
Are you superficial, or do you have a profound knowledge of the word of your God? Many believers love Christ fervently, but they do not go into the depth of eternal life, because they do not actually think of what they read, or act according to what they hear. They do not continue reading the word of God by themselves. He who does not make the effort to study the treasures of the gospel remains weak. He does not find power at the time of persecution and sickness, but goes to pieces. So, read the Holy Bible joyfully that no opposition may grow in you.
Woe to the believer who loves money! For he cannot serve his Lord with his hand clutching money greedily. Reject your longing for big salary, high office, and transient luxury, which bring with them spiritual bonds, and deadly ties. Continue in Christ that you may overcome your worries by trusting in his love, become free from your lusts, abstain from foolish behavior, and serve the Holy One alone. Choose your Lord as the emblem of your life, and do not accept the world’s flattery at the same time.
He, who is conscious of the Holy Spirit fears God, knows his sins, repents, and confesses them without deception. Then God, on his part, shows the sinner the deep corruption of his heart. He opens the last of his dark scrolls, creates in him a new heart with his divine light, and renews his soul that he may become a man acceptable to God, a new creation full of goodness and righteousness, bearing Christ’s image in his body. This all depends on the true hearing of the gospel. Do you read the gospel with perseverance and joy? Do you recall it with gratitude, and preach it in public?
He who obtains salvation, obtains also the desire to save others; and he who tries to guide his friends humbly to the Savior grows in both knowledge and power. Keep the word of God in your heart, and sow it among others, for there is no blessing except from the Bible.
Some times the Lord plows a stony heart with painful disasters and problems in order to change the rock into good soil. Thank your Lord for all your problems, for he prepares you for his word. Take, read, and give the gospel of salvation to many, that you may bear much fruit.
PRAYER: O Lord of the harvest, we worship you, because you gave all people, in your great love, the chance to enter your kingdom, and you gave your word equally to those who are hardhearted, superficial, lovers of money, as well as to the lowly, and made them responsible, expecting good fruit from them. Please forgive my hardheartedness, negligence, and love of money. Plow my heart that I may become good soil, and bear much fruit. Amen.
QUESTION:
- How do we keep the word of God?