When asked what I miss most about Florida, it’s an easy answer: “dirt” I say. That’s right…just plain ole dirt…the easy to dig in, plant in…with some occasional sand mixed in. This mix of clay and rocks in my yard now is not something I enjoy…at all.
In Mark 4:9 – Jesus says: “Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand”.
Why do you think Jesus would say something like that after having spent a few moments taking about dirt, soil and seeds. Best guess would be…it’s a matter of life and death – literally!
A farmer (God’s messenger) comes and scatters some seeds. Some fall on the foot path and is immediately carried away by birds. Some fall on rocky soil and can’t grow roots…so in time die. Some fall among thorns and in time is choked out and die. Yet some fall on fertile soil and grow deep roots. They produce a crop that is thirty, sixty, even a hundred times as much as had been planted. It doesn’t require a degree in horticulture or vast experience in farming to realize that not all seeds planted will grow. Not all soil is alike. Yet the condition of our soil is indeed a choice.
In unique and diverse ways, everyday seeds are thrown your way. Some of us receive it with great anticipation, joy and open arms. Yet – the cares of this world, the lure of wealth, the appeal of nice things and a nice life choke away truth – leaving the only eventuality: despair, destruction, lostness on an eternal scale! But the fertile soil produces a bumper crop. Great soil equals great growth!
So dirt really does make a difference! Pliable, loose, fertile soil ready to receive the seeds and bear a crop for which it was intended. Let’s do some tilling…and check the measure of our soil. The Farmer is casting seeds…let’s be ready.
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