“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.” Mathew 13:22-23
Jesus has got to be the best communicator that has ever walked the planet. Jesus communicated God’s principles in a way that was easy for a child to understand yet interesting to the oldest adult. Jesus used parables, sort of like short stories to teach about God.
In Mathew 13, Jesus shared a parable to show the importance and success of a life that is filled with His Word. In this parable Jesus refers to God’s word as a seed that falls on four different kinds of ground. Three out of the four types of ground did not provide the right atmosphere for the seed (Word) to grow so the seed died before it was able to produce any fruit. One ground on the other hand was good soil that provided a safe place with the right nutrients for the seed to grow and produce much fruit.
Sower = God
Seed = Bible = Jesus
Ground = Our lives
Thorns = The devil (the thief)
God’s Word, the Bible, is alive and gives life to every person that reads it and puts their faith in it. That’s why the devil is so interested in keeping us from it. He does everything in his power to distract us with various things to keep us from reading the Bible. Throughout scripture we find when a person applies God’s word to their life success follows. But yet destruction always comes to a life that lacks it.
I speak to Christians on a daily bases about various issues they are struggling with. The first question I always ask in the quest to help them is “When is the last time you read the bible for yourself?” Ninety percent of the answers are “I can’t remember.” I am convinced that most of the troubles we face in life are due to not reading and applying God’s word to our lives. In John 15 Jesus said a person who abides in Him will produce much fruit but apart from Him a person can’t do anything. Jesus is the Word of God that became flesh and dwelt among men. A life that is built on God’s word always flourishes.
Frieda Lindsey, the co-founder of Christ For The Nations, taught me a spiritual discipline I now use daily to keep myself in the Word. She would hold up three fingers and then five fingers and say “three and five.” Which meant read three chapters a day and five on Sunday and you can read the Bible from cover to cover in a year. I started using this principle my first semester of bible college in January of 2010 and have been doing it ever since. This discipline now serves as an accountability tool for me to stay in the Bible daily and it continues to change my life, the lives of those around me, and bring me great success.
Whether we have life or death it’s a choice of ours we make daily. Choose to eat the bread of life daily. Choose to make your life good ground for the seed of God’s Word to thrive in. Be the light of the world and salt of the earth. Release the fruit of God’s spirit; give away His goodness everywhere you go. Jesus is the hope of the world and you are the house His Spirit lives in! Share Jesus today!