Jesus had seen the varying responses to His message
and the work of the Kingdom in His ministry. There were some responses that led
to the dead end. Many had chosen those routes. He knew, however, that there
would be one way that would usher a person into true growth in the experience of
the Kingdom.
So He pointed to the different reactions people have
to the message of the Kingdom. As it was in Jesus day so it is today. Some
after hearing the message have absolutely no response. Their hearts are like
pavements, grounds that are untilled. Then there are those who would show some
initial signs of life on hearing the message. They responded with joy but
because they are like rocky ground, the message could not penetrate deeper. So
they have no deep roots to sustain the initial experience of joy and excitement.
When such people are confronted by the adversities of life, they immediately
give up their faith. The third kind of people refers to those that promised to
bear fruit on hearing the message, but these ultimately remained fruitless. Their
hearts are like thorny grounds. They are overtaken by he cares of this world
and the deceitfulness of materialism, and got suffocated by their worldly
concerns. They soon fall away from the faith. The last kind is the type of
people that responded to the message with the right attitude of heart. They
assimilate what they have heard, and the message takes root and brings about
harvest of varying degrees – a 100, 60 and 30 folds.
It is quite evident from this parable that the
condition of one’s heart determines the ability to respond to the message of
the Kingdom. There are three different states of the heart that would prevent
the message of the Kingdom from taking effect. The superficial heart, the
unstable wishy-washy heart, and the worldly heart. They repel the Word. There
is one state of heart that would ensure growth of the message. It is the yielded
heart that would be ready to take in the word, assimilate it so that
transformation could be experienced.
Where are we today? What is the state of our hearts?
We know what we really must be if we are to be impacted by His Word. Let’s
exercise care to prepare our hearts to receive the Word. Till it if we need to.
By all means remove the rock and uproot the thorns. But yield to God we must.
It’s only when we have a prepared and yielded heart, then can we have a life
ready to be impacted by the message. Then and only then will we be truly fruit
bearing people of the Kingdom.
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