It's Not Rocket Science

Scripture: Luke 8:14-15
"14 The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. 15 And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest."

Observations:
Jesus once told a story to illustrate the fact that not everyone responds to God in the same way. Some people flat out reject Him, while others only pretend to be religious. Still others mean well but their relationship with God never seems to go anywhere, while others for the most part seem to enjoy a deep, meaninful relationship with God. What's the difference? Jesus here shows a direct correlation between a person's relationship with God's Word and the quality of their relationship with God (vs. 11, 15).

Application:
God's Word doesn't even attempt to hide the fact that "whatever you sow you will reap" (Galatians 6:7). The more we cultivate a consistent relationship with God's Word and allow it to take root in our lives, the more we can expect it to develop in us the qualities necessary for a close relationship with God. However, the opposite is also true. The more we neglect God's Word, the easier it is for the "devil to come and take it away" (vs. 12), for us to "believe for a while, then fall away whenw we face temptation" (vs. 13), and get distracted by "the cares and riches and pleasures of this life and never grow into maturity" (vs. 14). The great thing is that God gives each of us the opportunity to choose to outcome of lives based on how committed we are to investing God's Word in our hearts (vs. 15). Without exception, there are no spiritual giants who are lax about their committment to hearing and obeying God's Word for it is the very foundation of an up close and personal relationship with God.

Prayer:
Father, show us the ways in which we are selling ourselves short when it comes to understanding and applying Your Word in our lives. Give us a genuine hunger to know You more so that we may live fruitful, obedient lives. Amen.







Daily Bible Reading Plan

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is our Hope in Life and Death? - Remembering Charlie Kirk (Acts 6-7)

Acts 6:10 "But they could not withstand the wisdom and Spirit with which he was speaking."  Yesterday Charlie Kirk was murdered in cold blood in broad daylight. Why? Because he spoke the truth of God openly, in public. He was unashamed of the name of Jesus and shared the gospel of Christ boldly.  He was brilliant, eloquent, and persuasive but his life was cut short in front of the entire world because of his faith and witness. He was unjustly put to death for the same reasons they killed the very first martyr Stephen in the early Church.  In Acts 6 it says the crowds approached Stephen to debate him but “they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke” (vs 10). Sound familiar? A few verses later in Acts 7, Stephen delivers a master class Old Testament survey (from memory) and argues powerfully from the Scriptures that Jesus was not only the Messiah but that their hard-hearted unbelief in Him was the very thing that caused His death.  Their reacti...
Read more

Jesus Take the Reel

2000 years ago the church in Rome was one of the most divided, polarized group of Christians when it came to cultural differences between Jews and Gentiles. When they came to the Lord’s table to eat each week each group rolled their eyes at the opinions of the other when it came to their vastly different food habits. Some preferred meat and some only vegetables, both for different reasons and each side thought the other side were idiots, causing a lot of strife and offense among these brothers and sisters in Christ. Go figure, each person had their minds made up and insisted on forcing their opinions on the other to the point that Paul had to waste precious time and ink to address their beef (pun intended).  The more you think about it, this behavior sounds awfully familiar in the age of social media. Even among Christians it’s pretty common to see brothers and sisters publicly and adamantly airing their personal opinions on the daily. One side can’t resist the urg...
Read more

The Why? (Luke 1:35-39)

"The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail." "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May your word to me be fulfilled." Then the angel left her. At that time Mary got ready and HURRIED to a town in the hill country of Judea..." (Luke 1:35-39 NIV) You have to admit, the writers of Scripture have an annoying tendency to relay supernatural events like they're no big deal. For instance, THE Angel Gabriel appears out of thin air to an innocent teenage girl drops the following bomb shell: 1. You're get pregnant outside of marriage. 2. God Himself is going to cause this to happen. 3. Your Baby is going to be God's but He doesn't f...
Read more