Living 4 Him

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23

One of the best parts of teaching my first graders was watching the power of a story percolate in their young minds. Both stories I read and stories I told brought moments of great delight and influential learning.  Jesus loved good stories, too.  His stories, called parables, provide spiritual guidance to our lives on earth.  The Old Testament prophesied his telling of parables: “I will speak to you in parables. I will proclaim what has been hidden since the creation.” (Psalm 78:5, also Matthew 13:35)  

Over 4o of Jesus’ parables are recorded in the Bible.  Linking everyday occurrences to a spiritual truth, Jesus not only taught his disciples, but dispensed valuable wisdom for all of us!  In Mark 13:3 after recounting a parable to the disciples, he said, “What I say to you, I say to everyone.”

Through this Lenten Season, let’s widen our spiritual scope by studying the parables of Jesus. As I look in-depth at parables to prepare for these devotions, I find it helpful to read a parable 3 times.

The first time I look for an overall theme.

The second time I notice details that stand out.

The third time I ask the Holy Spirit for help and direction in understanding the elements most meaningful for my life. 

Although I will share perspectives I have discovered, I encourage you to go back to the same parable or read others and try this method to receive messages for your own life. 

Being a gardener, one of my favorite parables is the Sower and the Seed, found in Matthew 13: 3-9, Mark 4:3-9 and Luke 8:5-8.  The parable tells of a farmer who sows seed in 4 different places with 4 different results. 

Some seeds fall on hard ground where birds quickly snatch them.  

Other seeds fall onto shallow, rocky soil with no room to grow strong roots.

Some seeds fall among thorns and the sprouts are choked out by the weeds.

The last seeds fall upon fertile soil, growing to produce a large harvest.

This parable is one of the few that Jesus actually explained to his disciples, revealing the each type of seed represents different ways people respond to the Good News (God’s love and salvation) in our hearts.  Only one way brings the desired results for God’s kingdom. 

Hard hearts will turn away from God’s message and no crop is produced.

Shallow hearts, with no strong roots in God’s message, wilt under pressure.

Worried hearts crowd God’s message out with too many earthly concerns.

Only the hearts planted firmly in God’s message of love and salvation produce the harvest of love, peace and joy that God seeks.

This parable emphasizes the importance of the heart in our relationship with God.  Our physical, blood-pumping heart, is our inner-most organ. The heart of the Bible comes from the Hebrew word “lev” which conveys the mind, will or emotions; the deepest part who we are. The heart, critical to our growth in God, is mentioned in over 500 verses of scripture!  This heart of our souls is the muscle we develop when growing spiritually, achieved through knowing and loving God.

This parable shows us the first step in tuning with God’s heart; accepting the message of his love and salvation through Jesus Christ. When we fully acknowledge and believe this holy proclamation, our hearts steer in God’s direction and his desires become our desires.  However, the soil of our hearts must stay healthy and in-balance to fully produce fruit for God’s kingdom.

The steadfast way my husband tends the soil in our garden each year illustrates how to tend our hearts.  He starts the new planting season using a roto tiller to break up the soil into fine pieces while adding compost filled with organic nutrients, giving nourishment to the all-important earth. We can keep the soil of our hearts fine and nourished through a pattern of prayer, a time of devotion or scripture reading or attending weekly worship services.  However, the first nutrient our hearts need is a faithful love for God and our savior, Jesus Christ.  With that nutrient filling our hearts, we have worthy ground to plant the seeds of life that comes our way.

As Jesus taught his disciples on their last night together, he spoke, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.” (John 14:23) When our hearts unite with God’s, his true intentions and far-reaching abundance can flourish.

Reaching in (allowing God’s word to work in our souls):

Read the entire parable and teaching for today’s devotion in Matthew 13: 1-23.  If you would like to tend your heart through the Lenten Season, reflect on these 40 scriptures that refer to the heart. Lenten Scriptures for the Heart

Reaching out (taking God’s word into the world):

Fill someone’s heart with joy today with a kind word, a helpful deed or a heartfelt act of love.