Ramblings From Mark: 4 (Parable of the Sower)

This parable has been one of my favorites for almost twenty years. It is a very simple parable with a seemingly simple message but it contains some very profound truths in it. I intend to spend my next few blogs discussing some of the things that stand out to me in this parable and how they have impacted me and my search  for hope.

Jesus begins with, "Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed." This immediately brings to mind a question, and that question is, "What is the seed?" You don't really have to wonder for long what the seed is because Jesus tells us later as he explains this parable to his disciples. The seed is God's Word. When I read this it really rocks my world and is a big reason why I serve and love God today. God speaks! When I say that He speaks, I mean that He speaks to you personally. Jewish tradition says that God's Word is forever speaking from Mt. Sinai. The tradition exists because God spoke audibly form Mt Sinai in the days of Moses and they feel that His voice continues to this day. I like this thought for several reasons but that is not what I'm talking about here. God is speaking to you! He's speaking right now. He is always speaking to you. The coolest part about this is that He is saying something to you at the same time as he is saying something completely different to someone else. What God is saying to you  is a personal message for you. 

God speaks in different ways. The most common way that God speaks to us is through His Word. This is why the Bible is said to be living and active. By itself the Bible is just a book and if you read it and do not hear from God as you're reading, it will not be of much use to you. However, when you are reading the Bible and, all of a sudden, God highlights something you are reading it comes alive and has power to change your life. God's Word spoken to our heart really is like a seed that God plants there. If this work is nurtured and cared for, it will grow and eventually bear fruit in our lives. This fruit is life change. 


There is one final point that I would like to briefly share on this subject today and it  involves this concept of life change. We have all heard the question, "Can a leopard change it's spots?" It is common in our culture today to say that it is impossible to change who we are. This is at the same time both true and discouraging. Everyone has character flaws and bad habits that we wish we could change but the truth is that on our own we are powerless to change them. However, God's Word has the power to change us form the inside out. Jesus tells us that we don't need to understand how this works. We just need to plant His Word in our hearts, cultivate the "seed" of His word, and He will do the rest. This is the subject of the parable of the sower and the point that Jesus is making here. We will need to address the condition of the soil that you are planting in and I will do that in later posts (or you can read the parable for yourself Mark 4:1-20) but the point is that God's Word planted in the human heart has an incredible, unbelievable, miraculous, life changing power.

My Search for the Promises of God

I have recently began asking God what promises He has for me. I ask this because I don't want to just search the Bible and pick a few promises that sound cool and then just say, "Hey this is for me too." Yes I know that all of God's promises are yes and amen. I'm just not sure that means that every promise that God made in the Bible is for me. I have nothing wrong with someone taking a promise and believing that it is true for them. If that works for you, go for it. It just doesn't work for me. So before I start a big theological discourse, back to my point. I just started searching the Bible for promises that I know without a doubt are promises that are for me. Well here is what i've found so far:

Jeremiah 29:13 - "You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart"

John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

John 17:3 - Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."

Luke 11: 13 - If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!

So Here it is in a nutshell. God has promised me eternal life. He has promised me that if I place my faith in Jesus, (this is talking about genuine faith not just mental assent; probably needs to be another post) I can have an intimate relationship with Him that will last throughout eternity. When you look at this all by itself it is a pretty cool thing. The one and only living God, creator of all things and sustainer of life is going to have a personal relationship with me! The only thing I can think to say to that is wow! As if this not awesome enough, this amazing all powerful God who transcends His creation has promised to come and dwell with me and in me. I can't even begin to comprehend all of that and what it all means. Let's set aside whether  you believe these promises are true or not and just look at them from the view point of a promise made to you. You have to admit that these are some pretty amazing promises.

Here's the question that I was faced with as I finished this list: (and I don't think it is a complete list but just a start for me) Can I be satisfied with that? I mean honestly, can I be satisfied with getting a relationship with God if none of the things I have dreamt about all my life come with it? If I am intellectually honest here, this is a difficult question. I have a lot of dreams and plans for my life. I have some dreams that I have held onto for a long time and now I am asking myself if I can be content with letting those dreams go if God so wills.

I remember the first time I read The Pursuit of God by A.W Tozer. This book rocked my world. In it Tozer challenges us to pursue God; not God AND... In other words, God has called us to pursue Him not Him AND His blessing, not God AND the answer to my prayers, not God AND anything; just God. I always thought that was so cool and now I find myself wrestling with the idea that all this time I might have been pursuing God AND... and not God alone.

So now this question sits out there and I'm forced to look into myself and answer it. And so I ask you, Can YOU be content with receiving God and God alone as your inheritance?