“The farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others. 15 The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away. 16 The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. 17 But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. 18 The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, 19 but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced. 20 And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”
Mark 4:14-20
What’s your response when life happens? You know when things are going well, career is moving in the right direction, school is going well, family is healthy, and all of a sudden things change. Relationships change, your mental health starts being attacked, your parents get sick, you lose your job, everything seems to be going wrong. Do you immediately panic and find ways to fix the situation or do you call on God? Do you go to friends thinking they can fix your problems or do you walk in faith and go into your prayer closet? Our response to trials are an indication of how deep our seeds of faith have been planted.
There’s this misconception as christians that as soon as we accept Christ into our lives, life will become “easier”. The truth is that life does not necessarily get easier but our response to trials must not be the same because Christ is fighting for us on our behalf. As christians we must understand our identity ( who we are, who we belong to and how God’s word applies to our lives). Reading through different stories in the Bible from the story of Israelites on the way to the Promise Land to Paul spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to David before he became king and countless others in the Bible. Their stories all had one common theme: they met opposition on their journey to where God called them.
Speaking from experience, I was so lukewarm in faith that it was easy to praise God when life was going well. However, when my struggle with depression started, family members passed away or my physical health was attacked. What did I do? I crawled under pressure. This is the exact opposite response we need especially as people who believe in God. Fear and faith dont mix. The bible explains many times that life will come with struggles which why our faith must be deep rooted. The deeper our faith is rooted in Christ, the harder it is for the trials of life to uproot them. Faith challenges us to see past those struggles, to forget relying on our own strength and rely solely on God. In order to get to that point, seeds of faith need to be planted. Seeds of his word need to be planted in your heart and the soil must also be rich enough to allow those seeds of faith to continually grow deeper. When these seeds are planted, your response is different.
The basis of walking in the purpose God has for you starts with seeds of faith because you will encounter opposition while walking in your purpose. In order to grow in your faith you need to spend more quiet time with God and really understand what his word means. We cannot pick and choose which parts of the Bible apply to our lives, if God says this life will come with troubles then we must remain steadfast in our faith so that we will not lose hope as soon as the trials come. Versus. 19 of this parable states that “no fruit is produced because we’re more concerned with the worries of this life, wealth and other idols”. When the seeds you’ve planted are seeds of idoltary , worries of life, wealth, lust, then what you do think will happen when troubles come? I am saying all of this because I have fell victim to this far too often and enough is enough. God’s word is the only thing unchanging in this unstable world. Please choose seeds of faith rather than seeds of fear.
