"FOOD FOR THOUGHT"

Good Evening to All!

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I hope you will read this and very consciously think about it as you are reading. At the end, I will have a question for you.

(Matthew 13:18-43 Message Bible) Most of you will recognize this as the "parable of the sower". "Study this story of the farmer planing seed. When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn't take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it right out of that person's heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road.

The seed cast in the gravel--this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm, but there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.

"The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it".

"The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams."

I have often caught myself wondering which category I belong in. I know which one I want to be in, but that takes a serious commitment of time, and I have a very short attention span. This is one reason I love doing this blog. It helps me learn so much and even retain because I use a lot of the scriptures over and over again. Up until the last few years, I would have said I was the "seed in the gravel" as badly as I hate to admit it. I Loved the Lord, and was all "gung ho' for Him claimed I had all kinds of faith in Him and so on, until I hit "rough patches". . . then my true emotions and feelings came out. I didn't have near the amount of faith I thought I had. Since then I have grown by leaps and bounds. I realize that if I'm going to "talk the talk" I definitely have to "walk the walk". I started building my faith more and more, little by little. Now I turn to Him for everything. I know that when I ask Him for something if I don't get it, it is because it isn't good for me. I trust Him implicitly and I lean unto His understanding, not my own. It has made a world of difference.

Even though I still have trouble retaining what I read, and remember scripture and verse, it isn't from lack of conviction, it is truly a memory problem. I am able to remember the "substance of verses and can look them up . I just am not good at memorization.

Now, I'm not quite sure if Jesus was strictly talking about soul winning when He was speaking of the Good Earth and producing harvest. If so, then I wish He would have included an additional category because as much as I would like to say I'm seed on the good earth, I don't think I'm quite there yet.

While I take in God's Word (retaining some but not all), I am not what you would call a "soul winner" or "harvest producer". I cannot even witness to people unless we start out in a "regular conversation" and graduate to the subject of Christ and being saved. I have a hard time even inviting people to church, because I have such a "fear of rejection, and also because I get excited when someone tells me they'll come, so I tell my Pastor, then my "guests" don't show. I feel so embarrassed.

Even though I know that it's not the first time that has ever happened to someone, I feel silly because I shouldn't get excited and say anything to anyone until the guests arrive. I just can't contain myself when I have good news, and it usually backfires on me. That being said, now you know my category of seed planting,

Which planting category are you ?

Cast in Gravel ?
Cast in Weeds?
Cast in Good Earth?

Good Night To All and May God Bless!