Good Dirt

Almost every human has been touched in some measure by the word of God in the last 2000 years. Jesus told his disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Here, in the twenty first century, it is very likely that most of the world has heard of Jesus Christ. The great Christian religion’s influence has been felt all over the globe. The religion of Islam has even been influenced to a large extent by Christianity. Being founded largely as an anti-Christian religion, it still contains come Christian ideas such as the idea of a savior who will return to save his people in a time of great troubles. The major difference is, Christians serve a living Savior, Jesus, while Islam’s savior, Mohammed, is dead. Their god, Allah, supposedly will send someone who will be known as the twelfth imam to save them in the end.

In Matthew 13, Jesus gave us the parable of the sower. In the parable, Christ is the sower. He has also delegated the sowing to his church, to sow the seed, which is the word of God, all over the world. In the parable, Jesus said some of the seed fell by the wayside, some fell in the stony places, some fell among thorns and some fell on good ground. That which fell on good ground, brought forth fruit in varying amounts. Every Christian can find themselves somewhere in this parable. If you are a Christian, look for yourself, you are in there somewhere.

Jesus interpreted the parable in Matthew 13:18–23. The seed that fell by the wayside, represents those who hear the word of God and immediately the devil, the wicked one, takes it away from them and they follow him instead,

The seed that fell in the stony place represents those who hear the word of God; but because of their stony heart, the root of the seed doesn’t go deep enough and that person can’t take the troubles and tribulations of the world and they are offended. To them, everything must go just right because they are a Christian.

Those that received the seed among the thorns, represents those who have heard the word of God but the cares of this world are stronger. The material things, the deceitfulness of riches, have more importance than the spiritual things and the word of God is choked out.

The seed that fell on good ground represents those who heard the word of God and it took root and grew within them, producing fruit. These are the Christians whose lives were changed by the gospel and they became what they were meant to become because they heard the word of God.

I call upon Christians everywhere to closely look at your Christian life. Your life has been touched, in some measure, by Jesus Christ. What effect has it had on your life? Are you the wayside, the stony ground, the thorny places, or are you Good dirt? Where are you standing as a Christian?