Matthew 13:22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

This passage of scripture was used this weekend at Lifechirch.tv. It struck me, hard. This is a commonly used scripture when illustrating people and their faith. I would imagine that every pastor, at some point in time, has used this passage. But maybe not in the way I intend to. This is what I head when pastor Craig recited those words…

Matt 13:22- the one who received the seeds was me. The thorns the scriptures are referring to are my family. The lifestyle I was raised in. How I was shown by the women in my family to carry myself and behave as a women. Their worries about this life and how to make ends meet for the sake of the family were a heavy burden on me growing up. Any hope of a savior was quickly swallowed up in their worry, snatching all the joy that a savior could bring. The very joy and life that Christ could have given me, to us, was choked out of our hearts as soon as we got back to the car. Life, or the enemy, had intervened where God had intended to bring us joy, and life killed everything.

Matt 13:23- I never saw good soil until I felt old. Old enough to know that life was hard and that, in general, hope had abandoned my family and left us all to rot in our bitterness. And honey, we rot in fashion. But good soil started to find me. But for the most part, it always felt like quicksand. Just as unreliable as everything else, just this the name “happiness” attached to it to make it sound nice. I had a good example of what good soil was, but no follow through from anyone.

I understand good soil now. It’s the person who sees the world for what it is and still has joy in Christ, no matter the circumstance. But it can be more then that. It’s the example we set for others. I have more to say about good soil, but I’m done for now.