In my garage is a 1929 Model A that has been in our family
since it was brand new. My Grandfather
purchased it in January of 1929 and drove it until it wouldn’t go anymore. He was a man of the earth, running a business
that had a florists shop and huge greenhouses where he grew wonderful
plants. Every Christmas one of those
greenhouses would be filled with beautiful red poinsettias that he had grown. He was a master.
One of the
things that Grandpa Sam understood was if you are going to grow great plants,
you must have great soil. So, every
year he would hitch a trailer to the Model A, drive up into the hills of Idaho
where the best dirt was and replace about 15 tons of dirt in his greenhouses. Every year.
Trailer full by trailer full. As
a kid I remember the planting shed where Grandpa Sam made his special dirt
mixture that smelled so rich and earthy.
If dirt can be beautiful, Grandpa Sam knew how to make beautiful
dirt. And that beautiful dirt produced
beautiful flowers and vegetables.
Matthew,
Mark and Luke all record Jesus’ parable of the soils. (Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8) In his story he identifies the different
soils that seed falls upon and what happens.
There is hard soil where nothing grows, there is shallow soil that can’t
sustain growth, there is contaminated soil, full of weeds that block out the
good stuff and then there is good soil that produces a beautiful, rich,
plentiful harvest.
When Jesus
explains his story to the disciples, he makes it clear that the soils represent
the lives of people. The seed that is
sown are the words of God and, in particular, the teachings of Jesus. The point of Jesus’ story is what happens in
our life is a result of the type of soil of our life. If you resist God’s truth, it won’t take
root. If you are shallow in your
interest in truth, something might come up but it will quickly die. If you contaminate your life with worry and things,
it will kill your faith. But, if you
carefully open up the soil of your life, God’s truth will take root and put
down deep roots that will bring change.
The key way
we have good soil is purposefully obeying what we hear from Jesus. There is an old song of worship that goes
like this – “Trust and obey, for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus,
but to trust and obey.” Do you trust and
obey?
There are
two motivations for obedience. The most
common is fear. I obey the speed limit
because I fear the CHP Officer’s ticket book and the pain it would bring my
life! Obedience because of fear doesn’t
transform us, it just contains us such that, once that constraint is no longer
a threat we do whatever we want.
The other
motivation for obedience is love. I love
my parents and want to please them so I live a life of obedience to them. I love my wife so I obey her desires and
wishes knowing it will bring a blessing to her and me. I love God so I choose to obey his words
because I want to honor him and please him.
Obedience fertilizes and tills the soil of our heart so God’s truth can
take deep root in our life. God’s deep
rooted love will change us to be more like Jesus.
Changing
out 15 tons of dirt every year is not easy.
Especially if it is via a Model A!
But Grandpa Sam wasn’t thinking about the work, he was thinking about
what he was committed to producing – beauty and excellence.
Changing
the soil of your heart isn’t easy and you will fail if that is all you think
about. But if you focus on the beauty
God wants to bring, you will do it. How
is the soil of your heart?
Peace and grace,
David
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