…Consider this: There was a farmer who went out to sow seeds. As he cast his seeds, some fell along the beaten path and the birds came and ate them. Other seeds fell onto gravel that had no topsoil. The seeds quickly shot up, but when the days grew hot, the sprouts were scorched and withered because they had insufficient roots. Other seeds fell among the thorns and weeds, so when the seeds sprouted, so did the weeds, crowding out the good plants. But other seeds fell on good, rich soil that kept producing a good harvest. Some yielded thirty, some sixty, and some even one hundred times as much as he planted!

Matthew 13:3-8 (TPT) 

In this parable, Jesus is comparing the state of our hearts with the ground that a farmer (God) plants (His Word) on. So what is it that makes a heart “good soil?” I can’t imagine that anyone, upon hearing the Truth of the Word of God, or encountering His Presence, would want anything but for their heart to be good soil, able to hear and fully receive whatever He’s so graciously and freely giving. So what’s the difference? Why are people living with shallow, gravelly, thorny soil? Why do some people come, sit in the Presence of God, hear the Word of God, but still haven’t fully received Him into their lives? 

In farming, ground that is hard and unplowed is useless, unusable. Crops cannot grow on ground that has not been plowed, sifted, and turned. Seeds are prevented from penetrating, germinating, and taking root, which means they cannot grow to maturity. In order for the ground to be usable, the soil must be plowed. Old trees must be uprooted, thorns removed and burned, stumps that have taken root pulled out completely for the soil to be ready for planting new crop. 

Jeremiah 4:3 says, This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: “Plow up the hard ground of your hearts! Do not waste your good seed among thorns.” In the same way that hard ground is plowed, softened, prepared; the same way thorns and old stumps are pulled up; so this must happen in our hearts. As I looked over the parable Jesus told of the seed and the sower, I saw myself in each one of those situations throughout my walk with the Lord. I remember when my heart was a beaten path, and none of it made any sense. I remember when I would have an encounter with His Presence, then walk right out and become offended, anxious, or in fear over people or circumstances. I remember that fear of no longer being like the world, being different from my family and friends. Or being so led by my emotions that no matter how badly I wanted to please the Lord, I always seemed to mess up somehow. I don’t believe anyone gets magically granted “good soil.” It’s a process, and a painful one at that. Plowing up ground in one’s heart doesn’t sound comfortable, because it isn’t! 

There’s a key to making it to the good soil. And that key is discipleship. This is not a journey we’re meant, or able, to make alone; it’s one that we walk together. There is a mandate from Jesus Himself on our lives, to go and make disciples. That means leaning on the ones God has given you to help you plow up that hard ground, then turning around and taking the hand of the one behind you to help them do the same. God has given us leaders, brothers, and sisters in Christ, who are there to take us by the hand, share their testimony,  and give us hope when we can’t see it for ourselves. And then He calls us to become that very thing for someone else. 

As we celebrate a Faith Home Graduation today, let’s remember that Jesus’ mandate is being fulfilled. It’s not about being set free from drugs, although that is definitely something to celebrate! It’s not about being blessed and being restored, although God in all His mercy and goodness does that for us. It’s about becoming that good soil that Christ Himself is rooted in; bearing the fruit of the Kingdom of God in this world; then turning around and helping the next person on their journey through discipleship, until they too, become….good soil.