The Parable of the Sower

³ “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

[Jesus explaining:] 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—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

Mark 4: 3-8

Last night we dealt with Mark 4's the Parable of the Sower.

Confession time: This parable scares me because it shows me what I could still become, what I could fall to be.

I know that I'm not Soil #1 (the unaccepting path) because I've accepted Christ.

I want to be Soil #4, someone who will produce lots of crop.

But I could still fall and be Soil #2, the rock who loses the seed because of persecution.

Even more scarily, Soil #3, where there's no active persecution, but rather a drifting away due to other interests, other idols, other loves.

Time will tell.