Even if we are faithless, he will still be full of faith, for he never wavers in his faithfulness to us! 2 Tim 2:13 (TPT)

Seeds to Plant – Truth and Seeds Series – Part 3

Go to PART 1  |  PART 2  |  PART 3  |  PART 4  |  PART 5  |  PART 6

But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it… Matt 13:23 (NIV).

Matthew recorded a parable that Jesus told about a farmer. The farmer had some seeds to plant, so he went out to the field and sowed them into the ground. Some of the seeds fell on soil that wasn’t ready for them. It wasn’t prepared well, and not the kind of place a seed would flourish in, and in turn, nothing grew there. But, some seeds found their way into good soil. Soil that was ready and healthy and prepared. In that ground, the seeds took root and generated an abundant harvest.

Jesus disciples couldn’t find the message in the story, and they were getting a little tired of all the parables. Why couldn’t Jesus just tell them straight?

Because, of course, that’s how life is, right? Uncomplicated, straightforward, black and white… (note the sarcasm).

Jesus explained to them that the Kingdom of God is like a secret that’s being told, not kept:

“For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”

He goes on to explain (kind of) the parable, and we discover that the seed is the word of God, the Good News, the Kingdom itself.

A seed wrapped in a secret.

My secrets are things I don’t want people to know. I keep them hidden, under wraps, untold, close; only revealing them to a few that I trust. Is that what Jesus meant by “It has been given to you to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them, it has not been given”? That sounds too exclusive. It doesn’t quite match up with what we believe about the inclusiveness of God.

Our modern interpretation of the word “secret” neglects the full meaning it had to First Century Jews. A more correct translation is “Mystery”… and not some weird, out there, hard to find mystery. But rather, a mystery to be explored, pursued, and discovered… a faith-kind-of mystery.

The Divine isn’t trying to bury his secrets or hide himself away, unseen and unfindable… He’s not keeping his secrets; he is telling them to us. Revealing his mysteries in and through and all around us, to the world that has lost faith and hope. The world that has eyes but is unable to see. Ears – God created, God designed, God-given ears – but can’t for the life of itself, hear a single word God is saying.

Have you tried telling someone what you believe? About God? Love? Healing? Life? And in response, you get eyes that can’t see and ears that can’t hear?

Have you ever been that person yourself?

I think I have the potential to be both at the same time: a vessel receptive to the mystery and a deaf and blind person to the glory of God all around me.

To live alive to the mystery, to be able to hear and see, to receive the seed of a secret that The Sower plants, is a life of faith. But sometimes life plays on our faith, knocking it around a little, causing a touch of blindness and an ounce of deafness.

Does our ability to hear and see affect God’s ability to keep on revealing his mystery? Has he turned off the sun and sent the moon to bed simply because some cannot see him in them?

Paul reminds us that “even if we are faithless, he will still be full of faith, for he never wavers in his faithfulness to us!” (2 Tim 2:13 The Passion Translation).

The Sower is relentless.

Have you been blind to someone's belief only to discover it later? We'd love to hear your experience in the comments below

Go to Part 4 – The Point of the Story »

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