Mark 4 – The Listening Plan

Devotional

Mark 4 presents this gospel’s account of Jesus’ parable of the sower, which generally is considered in an evangelistic context. The sower is an evangelist, the seed is the gospel, soils are individual hearts and how they receive the implanted word. I think that interpretation is great; I’ve studied and taught the parable from that perspective many times. But in my most recent reading of it from Matthew 10 and now Mark 4 I found myself thinking about it from a slightly different perspective.

My heart is a field into which the seed of God’s word is regularly sowed through hearing, reading, studying, listening to sermons, etc. God’s word is good seed and it never returns void. But my heart needs to be cultivated to provide the best conditions for fruitful growth. In the field of my heart are stony places, shallow un-plowed ground and thorny places with the weeds of the cares of this world. I’m discovering more and more the importance of preparing the field of my heart so that God’s good word finds rich, fertile soil for an abundance of fruit.

Today’s Goal

What cares of this world need to be uprooted from your heart? Are there hard stony places that need to be prepared? Is there shallow, fallow ground that needs to be plowed and turned over? Ask God to prepare the ground of your heart to receive the precious seed of God’s Word today, for an abundant crop tomorrow.