.o11

I was reading through Mark 4 this morning and read through the parable of the sower and the soils. The parable talks about a sower sowing seeds on 4 different kinds of soils; the soil on the pathway, the rocky soil, the thorn infested soil, and the good soil.

A few things came to mind when reading through this parable (Mark 4:1-20)

- The sower is throwing seeds everywhere! Seeds land on 4 different kinds of soil. Jesus later explains to the disciples that the seeds are the "word". In this parable the sower spreads the seeds out onto every kind of soil, leaving the growth of the seed up to the soil itself.

What I find interesting is how the farmer didn't deprive the other soils of seed, but threw them out anyway. That is how we should be about the gospel. Because, the truth is that we can't truly know what kind of "soil" is in ones heart. We can assume we know, but there is no way to be sure. We also don't have a shortage of the "word" or "gospel", so we should feel free to throw the gospel at everyone we can. Because sometimes those seeds will find some good soil, and where there used to be just dirt, there is now a tree that bears much fruit.

- May we be excited to throw "seeds" at people. May we be in prayer about the "soil" in peoples heart. Because there is nothing we can do about the soil, that is the Holy Spirits job.

It is a miraculous thing when the word of God meets ones heart that has been softened by the spirit.

"He who has ears, let him hear"... we need to be giving people something to listen to.

.o10

think about this:
How often do you think about encouraging others?
Do you feel that it is important to do so?
How does one stir another up to; love and good works?

Hebrews 10:24-25 "And let us consider how to strip up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

I had the opportunity to read through the book of Hebrews recently and it was so rich with the gospel and the glory of Christ. From the very beginning of the book the writer straight out says that Christ is the "radiance" of the glory of God, and the exact imprint of his nature! From there the author compares the glory of Christ to the angels, to the Israelites forefathers, to the Law of Moses, to Melchizedek, to basically everything that a Jew would hold on to and value highly.

Something that really stuck out to me was 10:24-25 and how the author calls believers to stir each other up to love and good works. Initially, I remembered reading this verse in the past and how this verse pushed me to be in community with other believers and gave me a heart to disciple others. Reading this now is definitely convicting, seeing how I've let the busy-ness of life and "ministry" get in the way of true ministry. Not just settling for just the few minutes I see my brothers and sisters in Christ on Sunday morning, going through the "hi, I'm doing fine" routine. What I am called to, as all believers are, is to genuine relationship and love to the body of Christ and the world, and to accomplish that takes more than the few measly minutes we have in passing on Sunday morning. It takes time, just as all meaningful relationships do. And through this time we spend with each other, this is when we stir each other up in love, whether it's through teaching each other, training one another, rebuking another, or correcting one another. All of these things are needed to "stir" up another with the end goal of it being that our love for Christ increases as well as our love for others.

It is my prayer this week for myself that I will wake up to this reality and seek out what it means to truly love my brothers and sisters in Christ, and commit to stir up others towards love and good works.