Word Of God, Speak!
Matthew 13: 3 He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one: "Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. (NLT)
The Word of God is essential in our walk as Christians. It is indispensible. It is the blueprint we have received from God as to how we are to live this life and navigate all of the pitfalls we will encounter. No one operates a car without first reading the operating manual, yet so often we can operate our lives without consulting the Word. We can fall into the thinking that merely hearing the Word, perhaps on Sundays, is somehow sufficient but James describes it as follows:
But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don't obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. James 1: 22-25 (NLT)
The usage of the mirror example is quite fitting. We would not leave the house without looking at ourselves in the mirror because we want to make sure that we look good. Well, looking into God's Word will let us know if we are good. Maybe that is why we do not look into it as much as we should. Because we know deep down what it will reveal. It might reveal that hidden sin we know we should not be dabbling in. It might reveal that unforgiveness we harbor or pain we cannot seem to let go of.
The parable of the sower is often used to show how people react to hearing the Word in relation to their salvation but today let's look at it from the perspective of those who are already saved. Just as a body without natural food starves eventually a believer without spiritual food will eventually starve the Spirit within them. We hear the Word as preached on Sundays, maybe we hear it as we worship, or during our devotional time. Maybe friends share a word with us as well and we can hear it then. In the days of modern technology we hear it on Facebook and Twitter. Sometimes this can lead to overload in the sense that we hear the Word but we do not stop to consider it. Stop to actually hear what God might be saying to us. Realize that God's Word is one of the most direct ways He communicates with us and it is not constrained to only your pastor on a Sunday or your private reading time. It could be a word from a friend, or a post on Facebook. We must avoid allowing the ease at which we hear the Word to dismiss us from having to actually listen to it.
The parable of the sower represents four different outcomes from hearing the Word in our lives. Three are negative and one is positive. The first outcome is the seed that falls along the path and the birds eat it. Jesus explains this as:
The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don't understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. Matthew 13: 19 (NLT)
