Luke 8:4-8, 15

Luke 8:4-8, 15 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.” . . .But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

Good soil has a persevering element in it. Jesus describes people who are considered to be good soil as those with noble and good hearts. We might consider these people as those who will stand beside us regardless of the difficulties of our condition or our circumstances. All of us want people with noble and good hearts in our lives. We want people we can count on as advocates for us. Every child, every friend, every spouse, every boss, anyone who needs help wants this support. How many of us have seen a sporting event where members on the losing team give up at the end, fail to play until the last buzzer. They are not there at the end of the game, playing just as hard as they did at the beginning of the game. They quit on themselves and on the team. I knew a wonderful Christian man whose son was in a penitentiary for robbing several local banks. The father confided in me that he would rather his son had died, for he was embarrassed he had a son who was a bank robber. The dad gave up on his son; he quit before the end of the contest. How sad.

Good soil never gives up. Its rich depths of nourishment persevere until a marvelous crop is produced. Good soil is loyal, loving, caring, nurturing, and sacrificial in nature. Bad soil produces a meager crop, an immature crop, because it is self-centered in nature: faithless, unloving, uncaring, and neglectful. Good soil reflects God's nature. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13:7) What kind of soil are we? Well, God is never finished with us; He is always working on our soil. If we are too much into ourselves, God will make us better soil if we ask him. We can always be more altruistic, more full of the Holy Spirit's attributes: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Hearts can be changed. God can change any of us with a stony heart or with poor soil into a person who can be receptive to God's words and yield an abundant harvest. Of course, God sowed the seed, but regardless of the condition of our hearts, our lives, our soil, we are not without hope. "Whosoever will" can be changed. When we believe in Jesus Christ, all things are possible. If we hold onto this truth and run the race to the end, we will bring a plentiful harvest into God's storehouse. So if you feel like quitting, stepping off the course, don't. God is with you--let your roots go down deep in him, in his Word. He has promised salvation TO YOU. Therefore, keep running, keep battling, for you are God's child; you have a NOBLE AND GOOD HEART.