Mark 4:3-4
3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds [a]of the air came and devoured it.
The bible tells us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to. Now usually when we think about the parable of the sower, we mostly want to think of ourselves as the good soil that takes in the seed and the seed goes on to bring forth a harvest, right? Thinking about the four kinds of soil mentioned in this parable, I believe each of us believers have all four kinds of soil in our hearts in the seasons of out Christian walk.
Have you ever heard a word that was preached and it spoke directly to an area in your life that needs adjustment but in your mind you kept thinking this is such a good word for another individual and you wish they were present to hear it? It would have made such a great impact in their life because they surely need it. Then that same week you go out and do the very thing the sermon was warning you against but somehow in your heart you have convinced yourself that it does not apply to you.
That describes the kind of heart Jesus is talking about here. A heart that hears the word but does not embrace it and thus the enemy comes and steals it, as the bible says, they have ears but they do not hear. In explaining the parable Jesus says;
Mark 4:14-15
14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.
The word was shared and you heard it but it ended there. You never took the time to meditate upon it day and night, you never took the time to confess it and speak it thus it never got to the place for you to be careful enough to observe everything it commanded you to do and thus the enemy came and stole it.
This leaves us in a bad place because we have some basic knowledge of the word since we somehow interacted with it but we have not implemented it and thus we have no fruit to show in our life and we keep wondering if this word is true. That is the reason why you can have two people sit under the same teacher or preacher and one grows because they implement the word while another one only has head knowledge but there is no fruit to show forth in their life.
May we check our hearts to ensure that we embrace the seed of the word and allow it to bear fruit in our life.
