Yesterday I wrote about who I imagined
Jesus was talking about in His parable of the Sower. As we read today Jesus describes these people
in this parable. Much like I had imagined
but a little different scenario than what I had described. The important thing to note though is that
each of these people received the word and it was what they did with that word
that mattered. We need to each ask
ourselves, what are we doing with the word that is freely given to us?
Read the passage below and then I will
discuss a little more.
Matthew 13:10-23
New
International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
10 The disciples came to
him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
11 He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of
heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given
more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has
will be taken from him. 13 This
is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though
seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
14 In them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah:
“‘You
will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’
16 But blessed are your
eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For I tell you the
truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not
see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
18 “Listen then to what the
parable of the sower means: 19 When
anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil
one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown
along the path. 20 The
one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the
word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short
time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls
away. 22 The
one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the
word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it,
making it unfruitful. 23 But
the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the
word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or
thirty times what was sown.”
As I read this I had to think about what I do with
the word. Am I the sower that spreads
the word yielding an even larger crop or am I the one in the rocky place that
when persecution comes my way I fall over. Or maybe I am the one that is among
the weeds and my spiritual welfare is choked out because of my desire to be of
the world rather just in the world.
After I read this scripture I asked the Lord if I had been the sower
because that is what I want to be. I
then went to a cabinet to put something away and found a large envelope in
there. Not remembering what it was I
took it out to look at it.
This is what I found:
There was a letter in the envelope from the mother
of our exchange daughter. This letter
was written in her language and translated into English by our exchange
daughter. It brought so much joy to me
to read this letter because I felt it was God answering my question.
When we decided to host a student from another country
our whole purpose in doing so was to become a missionary to that country. We invited a child into our lives and made
the decision that we would treat this child as one of our own. When we told Ivan’s mother that we were going
to have another child I think she became a little faint and we had to quickly
tell her that we were getting a grown child for a year.
We told the agency that we would expect our child to
go to church with us and be a part of our family. We were then matched with this young lady.
As we got to know our child and share our faith she
told us that her mother wanted her to not only learn English very well but that
she also wanted her daughter to learn about Christianity. This of course made me very excited and I
wrote a letter to her mother explaining our faith in Jesus Christ. In turn she wrote me a letter thanking me for
taking care of her daughter as my own. She
told me that she gladly gave her into our hands to care for her while she was
so far away from home. But most
importantly she told me how she was so happy to learn about Jesus and how she
wanted to know more and more. She shared
that all she knew about Christianity was that they went to church and shared as
a family. She had not had the
opportunity to go to a church and the only religion she knew about was one
where you had to walk or climb for miles to get to a place to worship a god. She did not realize that you could worship
God wherever you were and she wanted to know more.
This young lady accepted Jesus as her Savior before
she left our home. Her cousin accepted
Him as his Savior via the internet with me guiding him through the plan of
salvation through the translation of our exchange daughter. Her mother began going to church and taking
her brother.
Why do I share this with you? It is not to get affirmation from you or to
brag. It is not to put a feather in my
hat but rather to bring glory to our Father in Heaven. You see, I asked Him if I had sown any seed
and He gave me the answer that was written years ago. I will never feel that I have done enough to
bring Him glory but for as long as I live I want to spread the Good News of His
saving love to others.
I don’t believe in coincidences I believe the Lord
planted a seed in this family and although her mother didn’t know why, she was
curious about Christianity. I believe He
planted a seed in our family to become missionaries to this young lady, her
family, and her country. God put us
together for a reason. I even believe finding
that letter today was His way of answering my question and I thank Him for
giving me an answer.
As you seek Him and find Him may you spread the
news, water the soil and tiller the ground in order that we may all yield a
harvest that will bring others to Him.
Seeking Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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