Good Soil
Luke 8:1-15
After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5 “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 ate it up. 6 Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,
“‘though seeing, they may not see;
though hearing, they may not understand.’[a]
11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 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.
I was reading my Bible the other day and noticed this scripture in a whole different light.
Have you ever had that happen before? The Bible says that the word of God is "Living and Active" (Hebrews 4:12) and this experience I had reading this scripture re-iterated to me just that notion.
I was reading this scripture that is so familiar to so many of us and verse 8 stood out to me and I felt the Holy Spirit highlighting that scripture for me to focus on.
As I read on, I felt God share with me more directly about a couple of thoughts that I want to expand on with this:
- Good soil produces good fruit
- Good soil multiplies the good fruit
- Good soil multiplies the years of good crops
Let me expand on this in more detail. In verse 8 above it says, "Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown."
Good soil produces good fruit. It's just a fact. When I was a kid, we had an apple tree in our front yard. We never fertilized it, we probably didn't water it all that much and only trimmed it once in a while. That tree produced the WORST fruit I have ever seen. Filled with ants, rotten before it left the tree. Just bad, I think we had fruit 1 year from that tree. Now let's contrast that with the flowers my father in law plants each year. He takes time to weed, he waters the ground liberally, he uses fertilizer and plant food. His plants are the talk of the neighborhood and the envy of the elderly women in the neighborhood. When we take the time to make the SOIL of our life good, by reading the word, praying, spending time with God and people of Godly character, spending time in Worship and time in God's presence, the fruit that comes from our lives is pleasing to God and man. Not every man, mind you, there are some that will hate you because you carry the name of Jesus in your life. (John 15:20). However, others will be drawn to you and wonder how and why you are so light and free when they are suffering darkness and hurt? Matthew 7:17-20 reminds us that a "Good Tree produces Good Fruit." As a Christian, that is a goal! Produce Good fruit. It goes back to the first command God ever gave man: "Be Fruitful and Multiply" (Genesis 1:28).
When you make the soil of your life good, the fruit that comes from it by DEFAULT is good.
Secondly, Good soil multiples good fruit. You see the principle spelled out SO clearly in this verse, it's not even open to interpretation. When you plant crops, especially the way they did back then, they would have crops that they would spread a lot of seed but only some of the plants would grow, and then only some of the plants would produce. The type of planting was the best they had at that time. The farmers in Jesus' time would spread a lot of seed and hope that plants came up. But Jesus says plainly, when you sow on good soil, expect a harvest that is bountiful! Not just that, expect it to be exponentially bigger than what we expected. I've heard it said that Humans add and subtract. The Devil divides, but God MULTIPLIES!
When we make the soil Good, God takes that soil and exponentially makes the fruit we produce better! It's a Biblical principle, like Tithing. When you make the soil of your life Good, God can use it far beyond our natural abilities. Where we get into trouble is when we don't honor God AFTER the harvest comes in. Look at the life of Solomon. Solomon started out well! But after he gained some successes, he allowed his own wisdom to double in on itself and begin to cause him to turn away from God. When we allow things into our life that do not draw us closer to God or worse directly pull us away, as many of Solomon's wives and concubines did, God will strip the success away and we will lose the fruitfulness until we turn back.
The last thought is what God highlighted to me. I am not going to spend a lot of time writing about it because I am still pondering it. But what I want you to ponder also is that sometimes the multiplication happens all at once, but sometimes it happens over years. If we keep our soil good, we remain faithful to God, He will ultimately bless us with "Long Life" (Psalm 91).
Make the soil good and your life will produce, produce, produce!