Day 150: Luke 8:4–15

He said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables” (v. 10).

The parable of the sower helps us understand the obstacles that limit us and the elements that would free the Spirit to teach us the deep things of God. But before we look at the differences in each type of “soil,” let’s address a critical common denominator: all four heard the Word, yet only one produced a harvest.

It is not enough to hear the Word! We have just stumbled on my greatest burden for the body of Christ. How many people sit in church services where Scripture is never taught? They’re not even hearing the Word of God! Furthermore, what masses of believers hear the Word but continue to live in defeat because they don’t apply it?

I was one of them. I desperately wanted to change. I was miserable in my captivity. I just didn’t understand that the power to be transformed was in the authentic application of Scripture. Our obedience is not to make God feel like the boss. Trust me. He’s the boss and He knows it. Our obedience to apply the Word of God is so we can live victorious lives that glorify our Father in heaven. Hearing it is simply not enough.

Now let’s consider each of the types of soil the seed of God’s Word fell on.

1. The seed along the path. Luke 8:12 tells us Satan possesses the ability to come and take away the word from a hearer’s heart, although not the believing hearer’s heart. Once we’ve received the Word, it’s out of his reach. He can try to distort our understanding of it, but he cannot steal it. As we’ll soon see, however, we can give it up by our own volition.

The Greek word for “take away” gives the image of an owl swooping down, snatching its prey in its claws, and soaring back victoriously to its perch. Scripture implies countless reasons why Satan desires to snatch the Word from us before we’ve internalized it. Imagine the evil nature of one who seeks to keep people from being saved.

2. The seed on the rock. The rocky soil doesn’t just receive the Word. It receives the Word with joy! How eye-opening to realize that we can hear the Word and receive it joyfully, yet never let it penetrate the depths. Listen, some of the words of God are hard! I think He’d rather see us receive a Word, wrestling over it with tears and letting it take root, than to jump up and down with ecstatic joy for only a while.

The shallow hearer only believes until the “time of testing” (v. 13). What a shame! We miss one of life’s most awesome experiences if we don’t see God’s Word stand up under trial. He wants to show us it works. He wants to show us He works! If we stop believing, we will never know the power and faithfulness of God.

3. The seed that fell among thorns. These hearers are defeated by the distractions of the world: worries, riches, and pleasures. You don’t have to be rich to be distracted by riches. You don’t have to have much to want more. Working ourselves into the ground to afford more things is symptomatic of this.

The word for “pleasures” is hedone, from which we get our term “hedonism.” Hedonism views “pleasure, gratification, and enjoyment” as the chief goals of life. Please take caution before you view all forms of pleasure as an enemy of the faithful believer. Few things frustrate me more than people who picture the Christian life as entirely sacrificial and for martyrs only. Walking with Christ is the greatest pleasure of my life. But even this sacred pleasure cannot be my goal. Knowing and pleasing Christ must be my goal. Luke 8:14 says they also don’t “mature,” which is far more than unfortunate. It’s a tragedy. The word “mature” comes from two Greek words: telos, meaning “end, goal, perfection,” and phero, meaning “to bring, bear.” The hearers of the Word who are distracted by the constant call of the world will never fulfill God’s awesome plan for their lives. According to 1 Corinthians 2:9, distracted individuals miss life’s greatest treasure. No mind has even conceived “what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

4. The seed on good soil. The good soil represents the one who hears the Word and retains it. “Retains” pictures chewing the Word up and swallowing it until it occupies a place in us. When God’s Word is deliberately internalized, it will be authentically externalized because it’s no longer what we do—it’s part of who we are.

Isaiah 55:11 declares that God’s Word will not return void or empty. It will accomplish the purposes for which He sent it. That’s a fact. But I want it to accomplish and achieve in me, don’t you? When this generation asks who Christ’s brothers and sisters are, I want Him to point us out joyfully. For our kinship to be obvious, we’ve got to hear God’s Word and do it. When He sends forth His Word, may He find fertile soil in each of us.

Then, when we’ve reached our lives’ intended goals, we will go out in joy and be led forth in peace, the mountains and hills will burst into song before us, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Persevere, doer of the Word. A harvest is coming.