The Four Soils

Day 50: Mark 3:31-35, 4:1-25

“And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ‘Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow.’” - Mark 4:2-3 ESV

"...the sower is not very important in the story, and not identified in the interpretation in verses 13–20. The focus in the story and in the interpretation is the four different soils and their different responses to the seed."
- Schnabel, E. J. (2017). Mark. (Vol. 2, p. 100)

Growing up as kids, we (at first) don't realize if we have it good or have it bad. However, whenever wonderful or messed up things were around us, we considered it normal. Yet, the environment we were raised in has dramatic effects on us in every way. Why do we tend to scream when we're angry? Or why are we bent toward shutting down when we become angry?

Our environment conditions us, but it doesn't sentence us.

Jesus' parable of the sower shows the same kind of truth. The word of God is powerful, alive even. Still, our hearts' condition can make it where the most powerful force in the universe will not pierce our soil. This is where the Devil has a field day.

This is why we have to be very patient and consistent with someone who wasn't raised to know much about Christianity. They were conditioned to be hard, flighty, or anxious soil. But we are convinced as believers in Jesus that any heart can turn with the right amount of the Holy Spirit's tilling (see John 16:8).

"Father, may we keep our hearts ready to receive your word. May you also provide us with opportunities to sow your word into other people's lives, and when we see them, help us to be obedient. In Jesus' name, Amen."