Matthew 13
The Parable of the Sower
1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop–a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.” (NIV)
I just got done listening to Rob Bell preach a great sermon on this text, and specifically vs. 7. Rob does a great job of looking at this text and talking about the thorns in our life that choke out the plants….the thorns that choke our life. He looks at this text and moves into looking at the concept of Sabbath in our lives.
As I was listening to his sermon I was really convicted about some of the things that I have allowed in my life to choke it out at times. Busyness. Technology (i.e. email and cell phone). Lack of boundaries. Etc. Etc. As I have been reflecting on his sermon and my lack of a Sabbath, it’s no wonder that I feel relationally strained, and unable to have any room for things to fall apart or for life to get interrupted. I keep saying that this is only a season….and to a degree it is since my graduate program and practicum will be done in the Spring….but whose to say I won’t replace it with something else.
I have a lot to think about.
Check out Bell’s sermon, Jesus Wants To Save Christians VIII, Week 407.
