Saturday 12 Aug 2017

August 12: Luke 8:4-8

Key Verse: Luke 8:7
Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants.

Devotion:
Are you in a ‘good’ church? How successful is your church? A couple of baited questions, I know… We all have our way of measuring the success of a church or of the ministers who are teaching the people. What Jesus was trying to get across to the people was a message of sharing the Gospel with everyone and not just the people we want to see.

If we only targeted the people we though would be able to support us, or those we thought were going to listen, then we are not doing what Christ is teaching here. The farmer did not just target the good ground which he knew would produce the most crops – that is what farmers do nowadays with the machinery which does that for them. What the farmer was doing in this parable was scattering the seeds over the whole plot of land; some good, some pathways and some stony and rocky.

Was this out of choice or was he just being lazy? This was out of choice! Modern machinery will bury the seed in a bit of soil so the farmer knows it is safe and will germinate given the right water and care. The farmer here had many things to contend with: The ground was not nice and even, people still walked through the area on pathways, birds were probably hovering waiting to food to name but a few of the problems.

When we go out to spread the gospel we are not going to find a nicely watered and prepared field into which we can automatically plant seeds to the right depth. What we will find is ground which is still in use for other things, people who are not dedicated to just taking care of your seeds… We need to spread the Gospel round liberally because many things will stop it from germinating! We are fighting a fight here and not just living in a Christian factory churning out people. We need love and support just as Jesus and the disciples needed, and we need to reach out to many more people than just those who we think will turn to Christ.

Points to Ponder:
Is your local ‘farmer’ sowing the whole land with the Gospel?

Will you help out with the work?