Bible Reading: Luke 8
Luke 8:11-12 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
“The Word of God is like a seed,” said Jesus. The Word of God has the power to save. It has the power to impart eternal life.
1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
When you and I sow the Word of God, we scatter it on a lot of different kinds of soils. The Word is the same, but the soil is different. One kind of soil is that by the wayside. Jesus said this kind is ‘trodden down’ and the birds come and ‘devour it’. You can see the picture. That soil that is by the wayside is hard because it is the place where people walk. There is little chance of it finding a nice, soft place to take root.
This is the condition of many human hearts. They have no concern for spiritual things at all. Their heart is as hard as a footpath where there is much traffic. When the seed of the Word of God lands on this hard soil, the hungry birds see it laying there and come and devour it up. This is the hard heart of unbelief and apathy that hears the Word of God. However, this heart is not concerned about eternal things and does not listen to the Word. It is not long before Satan comes and snatches up this seed and it is forgotten almost as quickly as it was heard. This is a spiritually blind person.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Satan is actively at work blinding people to the gospel of Jesus. That Word, if believed will save. The problem is that many are so apathetic toward spiritual things that they simply do not think about these things. When they hear the gospel, it is not urgent and not good news to them. They hear, but don’t listen and Satan quickly grabs it up. Do you know anyone like this?
Almost every week, we spend time out in the community surrounding where our church meets talking to people about Jesus. We find an incredible amount of apathy toward spiritual things. Many times we will ask someone if they think about eternity, heaven, hell, God, etc… Many times they will smile, shrug and say, “Not really.”
What can we do about that hard soil by the wayside? First, we can plow it with the Word of God. This is more reason to be out sharing the gospel. Second, we must pray. The Holy Spirit can work on that hard heart bringing reproof of sin, righteousness and judgment. Pray and go hitch up the gospel plow.
In Christ,
Rody
