One Word

Luke 8: 4-15
The Parable of the Sower

4 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
The Purpose of the Parables

9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

I have read this parable a number of times. Each time I thought i knew where I stood, which area the seed was being cast by the sower. I thought that I was among those in the good soil, then I really started looking at my life and realized that that was not the truth; in fact I thought myself all the way down to the worst area to be sowing seed, among the path. Then i tell myself I know the Word, the Son and the Father and The Holy Spirit, I know God. So I cannot be in the path those are the ones who have heard about Jesus’ saving grace and still do not believe. SO that ones out! So that leaves the others, which one am i.

Yes, I have read this parable many times and each time it leaves me checking on myself over and over again. This time i am going to go through this with One word in mind, my One Word for 2019 is “Application”.

This morning I started a devotional on my Bible app “YouVersion” I started with one but I needed more so I looked a the available devotionals that I haven’t read as of yet and found one entitled, “One Word that will change your life.” I read it. It left me wanting to know more about this its so simple really, instead of facing the next year with New Year Resolutions that will never work out and be forgotten by mid spring, start the new year with One Word. I bought the book, which is an easy read around 100 pages, the extended edition.

I did the action plan, found my word pretty fast really it’s been a word that I have been told by several people in my life. One pastor, Pastor Steve Rhodes, some of you may know him, he told me a few years back, that I had the knowledge of the Bible but needed to apply it to my life.

I did the worse thing to him, i ignored his advise, that I am truly sorry, because my life was a mess and continued to be a mess, and still is as I right this. Then another pastor said the same thing a few years later, Pastor Phil Ross, my current pastor.

So here i am in December of 2018, reading this book, and the authors write in chapter four (ebook page 29):

“Sometimes, our hearts are similar to hard-packed soil, and the seed never takes root. Other times, it takes root and grows but the worries, desires, and distractions of life choke it out.”

I immediately saw that they were speaking of the Parable of the soils. I went to my bible to Luke 8 and read the story one more time in my life. This time It leaped out at me. I’m not the sower. I didn’t get this the first million times. I know it should have been plain as the nose on my face.

The Seed is the Word of God, I got that one. I just got the rest of the cast of characters wrong. The sower are all those writers and preachers i listened to and all the teachers I sat under all my life.

So, who am i in this story? Because we are all in this story, every person in the world is in this story, did you know that?

The four types of areas, that is us, ALL of us on Earth. We are one of the Four:

1. On the Path
2. On the Rock
3. Among the Thorns
4. On Good Soil

That’s us!

Like I said above at one time I had figured I was on the path, but got confused by my distractions and forgot about this story, which leans to those on the rock. So many times I place myself in between the rock and thorns, and stayed there for many years.

Since reading this book, “One Word that will Change your life” its been given to me the answer to this parable and so much more. By starting this new year, yeah I started early, i am focused on what the problem has been for most of my life.

Sure, someone told me a few times, but it wasn’t real to me until I learned it myself. I need to stop seeking knowledge and use the that which God has already given me, from the last few decades of learning from God’s Holy Word.

Application of the Scriptures to my life daily is my focus for 2019.