What Kind of Soil Are You Taking to Church?

Last Sunday our Sunday School class studied Mark 4:1-20.  This is possibly one of my favorite parables – "The Parable of the Sower."  Our Sunday School teacher did an awesome job of bringing out how our hearts are the soil and God’s Word is the seed.  The soil (or the condition of our hearts) determines how we receive the seed (God’s Word).  I’ve been thinking a lot on this all week long and about the condition of my soil.  The parable mentions four types:

1.  By the Way Side:

   The sower soweth the word.  And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.  Mark 4:14-15

     I’ve been there- went to church with an “I don’t care” attitude, only half listening to what the preacher says and it basically goes in one ear and out the other!  My heart is not prepared to receive God’s word and as soon as it comes from the preacher’s mouth Satan has swept it away!
2. Stony Ground:

   And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time; afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.  Mark 4:16-17

   Have you ever gone to church just for a dose of “feel betters”?  Guilty, again I’m afraid.  I’ve went to church again with a heart that’s not where it should’ve been.  Instead of truly getting things right with God and truly taking his word to heart, I’ve listened to the preacher and felt better for awhile but then when I get back out in the world and Satan begins to attack I don’t have what I truly need.   As the verses say I only “endure but for a time.”   
3. Among Thorns:

   And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word.   And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.  Mark 4:18-19.

     This is the one in which I’m MOST guilty!  Letting the care of this world choke out God and his word.  It may be during church while that seed is being planted and I have a million other things on my mind like what I’m doing after church.  Or maybe the word is truly planted, but then I don’t tend to it afterward.  Instead of nurturing it as it starts to grow, I let worldly things in and before I know it those worldly things have taken over my time I should be spending with God and in his word.   It doesn’t even have to be anything big just anything that I put before God.  Before long that seed, instead of producing the fruit God intended, becomes choked out by all the worldly things!  We I need to guard my heart against the things of this world and keep my life “weeded out”!
4. Good Soil:

   And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred. Mark 4:20

     This is the soil I’m striving to have!  The soil that has been carefully tended to and is ready for the seed to be planted!  Ready to take God’s word, apply it to my life, and be fruitful for Him!

Tomorrow starts a new associational year for our association (Blount County Missionary Baptist Association) and it’s also our first Sunday with a new pastor.  It’s my desire that my soil be nurtured, weeded-out, and ready to receive God’s Word!  How about you?  What kind of soil will you be taking to church in the morning?