Mark 4:26-29 26 And he said, "The
kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed
on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and
day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the
ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts
in the sickle, because the harvest has come."
It’s a popular gospel of the 21stcentury. Sow a
seed and you will be blessed . Or your blessing is in the seed. All these
noises for a lack of a better word are centered towards commercializing the
gospel and to make people inundated to somehow earn their blessings.
It’s utterly unbelievable how scriptures which are
full of revelation and life can b twisted to suck life out of its very
recipients. How on earth did sowing a seed ever mean that I am sowing to earn
my blessing?
The most misinterpreted scripture as regards to
this matter is that of Mark 4:26-29
Lets do a little bit of investigation and find out
what is this seed that the scripture is talking about.
- The seed is the word of God :
the context of this parable is about the kingdom of God . Jesus introduces this verse with
the parable of the sower who sowed his seeds in different kinds of grounds. i.
e the roadside, the thorny ground , the hard ground and the good soil . He then
talks about the lamp under a basket which is hidden under a bed. Shortly after
talking about the sower he talks about the kingdom of God
being like a Mustard seed which is small but whn it grows up it becomes bigger
than any other plant. Its clear that Jesus is talking about the kingdom of God which grows like a seed to become a
big plant to its fruition .
- The sower is God
God is the gardener; He
plants the word in our hearts. We are not the primary sowers neither is the
seed in any way connected to tithe or money just as it ha been portrayed for
many years.
We all have been born of
the incorruptible seed (1st Peter 1:23) this seed is Christ who is
the word.
The seed or the word has inherent
capability to grow by itself to fruition. As the narrative says that the farmer
sows the seed then he sleeps and rises and the plant grows up effortless.
Similarly the word of God
has its inherent capacity to grow to the fullest extent in our hearts. We don’t
force the word of God to grow in our hearts. To those who force people to plant
their money in form of seed. Let them know that giving is a by product of the
word of God bearing fruit in our lives.
- The Ground is our heart .
The word of God settles
in our hearts to which it experiences growth .
There are four types of
grounds as pointed out in Mark 4:1-9. These four types of grounds represent the
condition of the heart .
·
The road side: this type of ground represents a
heart that lacks understanding . By roadside the seed cannot take ground. It’s
a heart that is ignorant of the word of God. Many people including Believers
are ignorant of the word of God. Do you know what the word says about God? About
who you are? What is the word of God? Have we perceived the word of God to be a
series of laws and commandments? The roadside represents a heart that hasn’t really
encountered the word of God. Who is the person of the word ? Its Christ and him
crucified . Everything in scripture expresses and speaks about him.
·
The Hard ground: this ground represents the heart
that has received the word but has refused to take it in . This heart is always
in dissension to believe the truth concerning the word, concerning Christ and
what he has accomplished for us.
·
The thorny ground: this ground represents the heart
that has encountered joy and growth from the word of God until something from
without suddenly causes doubt.
·
The good ground: the heart that receives the word
of God gladly . You believe in your heart unto salvation and you bear its
fruits thereof.
Remember the word is the person of Christ. He is
behind any explanation of scripture. In him everything holds together. Your
heart was not created to struggle or strive against God . It’s a repository
only where the word of God can settle grow to its full capacity .
In the old Testament we see that the heart of man
is desperatelywicked above everything, but in the New Testament by the virtue
of cleansing power of Christ you have been given a heart o flesh instead of a
heart of stone. That prophecy by Isaiah finally has come to pass in Christ .
May the word of God take root in your heart
beloveds . May any thorns or hardness be removed and done away with by the
incessant power of the holy spirit in operation in you as you gladly respond to
the promptings of God. You are blessed Beloved .
