The Seeds We Sow
We are an instant society. We have grown accustomed to having everything we want, right when we want it. Think about it, online shopping doesn't require us to leave our homes, food delivery prevents us from having to work too hard to make food to sustain ourselves, we can double tap on any Instagram photo to show we "like" it or post a negative comment with a few finger strokes of our keyboard. Dating doesn't even need to take as much time as it has in the past with the ability to swipe left or right solely based on someone's looks. Now, I love humanity, don't misunderstand me here, but frankly, we have become lazy and a little spoiled.
We dislike anything that takes us out of our comfort zone or requires too much work. We want to see tangible results, and we want them now. We have become an individualistic society that wants it our way or the highway. We all have a little Veruca Salt (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) inside of us. "I want it NOW!" With attitudes like this, it's no wonder that so many of us have either never built a relationship with Jesus or have thrown our hands up in frustration after not getting what we want or expected from our relationship with Jesus.
Friends, the hard truth is that it takes spending time with God to be transformed. Events, people, and materials in this world are easy to understand and believe because we can see/touch/smell/fast/hear them. God is invisible. He does not typically manifest in this dimension. So it takes spending intentional time with Him, reading about who He is in the Word, seeking Him out in community, worshiping Him in church, letting Him lead your life, and communicating with Him regularly in prayer to KNOW God. Think about any other relationship you have in your life. Didn't you have to spend time with that person getting to know them and understand them to truly KNOW THEM? Then what makes you think the same isn't true of your relationship with God? What about other hobbies we pursue? Or careers? How much effort do we put into those? What would our spiritual lives look like it we put the same amount of effort into our relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
For those who don't know, I am a licensed clinical social worker. I am currently working as a therapist and the clinical supervisor oI two outpatient agencies. I spent 6 years in college preparing for my career. I then took two exams, one for my clinical internship license, and one for my clinical license upon finishing my internship. In college and throughout my internship, I was required to study. I had to read thousands of pages in textbooks, make hundreds of flash cards to memorize theories, techniques, and diagnostic criteria. I spent countless hours at school. In class, studying, joining on campus clubs, living in community with other college students. In my clinical internship I had a supervisor who I met with weekly to consult on my cases and ensure I was engaging in ethical best practice. I now spend 40 hours a week, sometimes more, in relationship with my career. I spend time with my coworkers, my clients, my paperwork, my program development, the list goes on. I didn't see spiritual transformation in my life until I began seeking a relationship with Christ with the same commitment, desire, and eagerness that I pursued my career.
I've always considered myself a Christian, but I was never serious about my walk with God until college. My best friend/roommate and I started going to a local church near our house, and quickly fell into community there. However, I will absolutely be the first to say that my faith and my commitment was lukewarm. I thought going to church on Sunday's was a great opportunity to wear my latest cute outfit and that weekly community group was a great time to "hang-out" with my friends. There's no doubt that God had started working on my soul, but the soil of my soul wasn't quite ready for the seeds that the Father was ready to sow.
Jesus liked to teach in parables. Meaning, He would tell stories that illustrated a moral or spiritual lesson. One parable that Jesus tells is the parable of the sower. In this parable, Jesus tells the story of a sower (likened to a farmer), who scattered his seeds on four different types of soil. The first type of soil was hard and the seed could not even sprout or grow at all and the seeds became useless. The second type of soil was stony. The seed was able to implant itself and begin to grow, however, it could not grow deep roots and withered away in the sun. The third type of soil was thorny, and even though the seed could plant and grow, it could not compete with the number of thorns that overtook it. The fourth type of soil was good soil that allowed the seed to plant deep, grow strong, and produce fruit.
Jesus used this parable to explain to His followers and the disciples how different responses to the Gospel exist. The sower in the parable is Jesus and the seed is the word of God. The hard soil is a representation of someone with a hardened heart full of sin that hears the word of God but does not accept it. The Word falls on deaf ears so to speak. The stony soil is someone who shows interest and awareness in the Gospel but isn't fully convicted so that when trouble comes their faith is not strong enough to withstand the storm. The thorny soil is a person who receives the Gospel but who has many other idols and distractions in life - anxieties, riches, lusts, greed, selfishness (the list goes on), which take over a person's mind and heart and prevent them from growing in the truth of God's Word. The good soil is someone who has heard and received the Word of God and allows it to take root and grow within their life. This person represents true salvation that bears good fruit.
I have never felt like hard soil. I have always had a belief in God and Jesus, but my soil up until college was stony at best. And throughout college my soil was changing from stony to thorny. In college I had misguided ideas of how God should be and act according to my needs and desires. I felt that God was simply an eye in the sky without a real, tangible hand in my daily life. I saw sin as inevitable (which it is) and felt that trying to resist it was a moot point. I was the queen of my universe. I knew what was best for myself, and I was sure that spending one to two hours a week with God (church and community group) was more than enough. I was a Christian, but it was difficult to the Christ in me.
As I graduated college I had more time on my hands so my walk with God deepened as my soil transformed from from stony to thorny. I still hadn't read the Bible, albeit whatever verses were read in church, and I even stopped going to church as frequently because spending time with my boyfriend was more important to me. I prayed only when I wanted things. My desire for a deeper relationship with Him was growing, but I went looking for a deeper relationship in the wrong ways. I was too busy for God, no longer because of school, but because of lust, selfishness, stubbornness, and willfulness. Despite all of this, I kept feeling a deep tug at my heart. God was working on my soil again.
It took a life threatening pandemic for my soil to change into good soil, and for my life to be transformed by God. Of course He was working on my soil this entire time, but only in the last year has it transformed who I am to my very core. How sad is it that it took the mass loss of human life and potentially my own for me to finally submit and realize that God is what I needed all along? Humans, what a trip.
The soil of your heart has to be ready to transform and like Paul says "renew your mind." If you aren't willing to die to yourself, take up your own cross, submit to God, and deny your own selfish and sinful ways, then you won't find transformation. The Bible didn't even make sense to me until I submitted my life to God fully. Now it's like the words jump off the page and every verse is part of the world's greatest "how to live life" guide. Days that I don't read my Bible are few, and when I miss a day or two, I find myself almost giddy to pick up it up and dive in the next day. Prayer is no longer a chore, but one of my favorite parts of my days when I can come to my Father and Jesus and pour my heart out and receive counsel, comfort, and rest. It's like spending time with my family. Church is a time to learn more about how to live life for the glory of God and worship Him through song.
Transformation takes time. I tell people this constantly when they are starting therapy. People start out so fired up for change, just like New Year's resolutions, and then quickly give up and revert back to old ways or habits. If you truly desire to be transformed by God, then you have to be willing to go all in and be willing for it to take time. You need to lay it all on the line before God, surrender your life to Jesus, and commitment to relationship for the long haul. We humans are so quick to give 20 years to the devil, but then give two weeks to God before throwing our hands up saying, "why haven't I changed? Why isn't it working? Why isn't GOD working," and give up.
Back to the seed story. Another important consideration is that seeds don't grow until the seed is totally and utterly destroyed. It has to be deconstructed and in its place grows a new plant that eventually blooms. You are not going to bloom and transform and grow until you allow God to wreck you and recreate you in His image in His design, His way. We become most like the things we spend the most time with. Pause for a moment. What do you spend a lot of time with? What if you spent the most time with God, or even just MORE time.
Transformation is possible. Living a life radically changed by Jesus can be a reality for all of us, if we are willing. God doesn't force relationship or salvation on us. He doesn't want slaves who are forced to spend eternity loving Him. He has given us free will so that we can choose to love Him and follow Him. Just as easily as choosing to live our lives without God, we can choose to live them with and for God. Being in relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is a conscious choice, and the quality of your relationship with them is a product of time and commitment. The kind of commitment I had to my career. The kind of commitment we have to social media (how many hours do you spend there in a week), the kind of commitment that you give to your children or significant other. The kind of commitment you have to online shopping, drinking, working out, binging Netflix, or using substances.
It's important to close by letting you know that my soil isn't completely free of stones and thorns. Sometimes God answers my prayers in a funny way and I have moments of doubt in His answers. Sometimes I allow myself to turn social media and shopping into idols. But daily, I take up my own cross and follow Jesus. I ask regularly for wisdom to discern when something/anything is being put before God and work to keep my relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit first.
My hope for you is that you too will work your soil and allow your life to be transformed by the power of Jesus. It isn't easy, but living life out of relationship with God isn't easy either. The choice is yours, but I think you know which choice I'm rooting for you to make.