My Thoughts on Luke 8:11-15

Luke 8:11-15 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 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. 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. 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 to mature. 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 heard this parable so many times and always have received it with fear. “God which seed am I? I want to be the good seed. How do I accomplish that?” And I never before noticed the description of those who bear good fruit. The word that stuck out the most to me was honest. Those with an honest heart hold fast to the trust and bear good fruit. What does it mean to be honest? Typically we think of those who are honest as the opposite of those who are liars. While reading this verse I realized that maybe in this context the word honest relates to the word humble. Maybe it means to recognize our situation as terrible sinners and realize that we need God to bear good fruit. We can listen as carefully as we want in class and church, but without the Holy Spirit in our lives we will not bear fruit, hence “the fruit of the Spirit.” The word patience also stood out to me. We have to be patient while the Holy Spirit works in our lives and not get frustrated when we do not see results. This is where trust comes into play. When I first got here I was really struggling with frustration. I asked God “why?” a lot. I wanted daily surrender to be easier and God just reminded me to have patience. He works in the slow and steady changing of my heart to be more like His. Have patience.

Application: For the next week I will share what I am learning in my devotions with one of my roommates so that they can keep me accountable throughout the day so that I am not just a hearer of the word but a doer also.