Living on my farm

‘Some of the seed fell among thornbushes, which grew up and choked the plants, and they didn’t bear any grain. But some seeds fell in good soil, and the plants sprouted, grew, and bore grain: some had thirty grains, others sixty, and others a hundred.’

And Jesus concluded, ‘Listen, then, if you have ears!’

Read Mark 4:1-20

Have you ever thought of your life as a farm property? This parable suggests we can. There are times in our lives when we are hard-hearted, and God’s word makes little impression. At other times we react enthusiastically, if shallowly, to some trendy way of seeing the gospel. It’s fine for a while, but when the heat is applied we lose our enthusiasm. Then there are the thornbushes of our lives, the times when anxiety and the sheer busy-ness of life chokes out God’s word, and we struggle (and usually fail) to cope with life on our own.

The good news is that God’s word falls on fertile soil often enough to take root, thrive and produce a crop. This means that the times when we shut God out, or we collapse under pressure, or busy-ness gets in the way cannot separate us from God’s love. God promises that, for he never takes his grace from us.

And so we can work on other ‘farms’, knowing that despite resistance, despite reactions that are too quick, that don’t stand the test, despite the thorns in people’s lives, some of the seed will fall on good ground. There the Holy Spirit will produce a crop – after all, that’s his work.

Father, let me always trust your promise that your word always achieves what you mean it to, in my life and in those I reach out to. Amen.

by Bob Turnbull, in ‘New Strength for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 1998)

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