Where is your heart?

I had a great discussion with a friend the other night about the parable of the sower. If you care to read it first before going on, click here.

We talked about the different hearts where the seed (the Word of God) is sown. "Only a good sower would sow in good soil," someone had pointed out to my friend.

Which made me think of another conversation I had heard about, which is hard to explain. Basically, a guy was struggling with whether or not he should invest in someone's life. He was saying that the person had no hope for change. As though to say, "Why bother?"

So what are the different hearts like?

• The Path: the heart that doesn't even accept the Word because it is stolen by the evil one.
  
• Rocky Places: the heart that is excited about the good news, but then dies because it did not take firm root.
  
• Thorns: the heart that is choked by the worries of this world, so much so that it can not even grow.
  
• Good Soil: the heart that understands the nature of the good news (that it is irresistible) and thus spreads the news to others.
  

The point of a seed is to grow.

We have often looked to these as a one time thing. The Word of God enters the heart, and immediately it is snatched or sprung up, or choked or grown. We have forgotten that someone often hears the gospel at least 7 times before it means anything to the person.

Perhaps this suggests that we can have a different heart at any moment in time. Remember that there is an enemy who will do all he can to prevent the seed from taking root.

And what of those who are called to plant the seed in a parking lot? We thought of the 1 Corinthians verses that talked about Paul who planted, Apollos who watered, but only God who could make the seed grow. Maybe we are meant to turn the parking lot into fertile soil.

It would take time.

Perhaps we will never see a seed take root. Perhaps it seems as though the person will never change. It does not mean we don't stop spreading seed.

I think of my own stubborn heart, because you see, I feel like the good news is constantly shared with us even past the first conversion experience. The Word of God is described to us as a double-edged sword, dividing joints and marrow. Dividing soul and spirit.

As believers, we are moved by the Word, and sometimes we allow Satan to snatch it up before it can take root in our lives and lead to change. Sometimes we read about loving our enemies, or building others up with our words, but we crowd our hearts with other messages so that we do not follow the true one. We set goals for ourselves that in the short term work great, but again, they are just the outer appearance of a need for deeper and true conviction (not always the case).

And then we have a moment of clarity. We realize that being like Jesus is the better way. In small steps, we come closer and closer to being like Him in our world. We then affect others--30, 60 and 100 times.

A good sower will not play favorites.