Halfway

IBS 11

Caroline Nelson

Luke 8:11-15 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the Word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the Word from their ears, so that they may not believe and be saved.  Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the Word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasure, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”

This parable categorizes different people who have heard the gospel. The first of which never come to knowing God by means of salvation, and the other ones receive the Word at some point in their lives. From that analysis alone, I could only possibly relate to one of the last three because I have made the decision to entrust my life to God. 

So when I started to reflect on my own life with this verse I knew that I didn’t connect with the soil planted on rocky ground, but that didn’t mean I was off the hook. There was a lot that tugged my heart when I read about the seed that fell on thorns. Many times in my life I have been caught up with worldly wants and it distracts me from devotions, going to youth group, reaching out to people. For instance, when I was in high school I hardly ever tried to reach out into other’s lives because I was so focused on getting my homework done and getting good grades. Then beyond that, I found myself always filling my weekends top to bottom with hangouts and sleepovers so when I felt lead to reach out to someone new I already had an excuse like, “Oh I can’t take that person out to lunch on Saturday because I already promised so-and-so (that I’ve seen for the past 5 weekends) that I would go to their house at that time.”

I am really not even sure any of this is making sense, but basically I would push out God in order to fill my earthly agenda and it wasn’t until arriving here in Guatemala that I realized I needed to pursue a more intentional, spirit filled life. I no longer want to be the plant that gets caught up in the thorns, I want to be the seed that is planted in good soil and that grows it’s roots in the Lord and His word.

Over the next few days I will ask 3 people what seed they felt they related to most and why, and then I will pray with them for strength!