Where Some Seeds Fell

"....some fell by the wayside.....some fell on rock...some fell among thorns...others fell on good ground." Lk 8:4-15

Thirty years ago or so, I'd heard that a fellow architect from a distant town had joyfully accepted Christ about a year previously. When I saw him at a meeting I asked, "How are you and Jesus getting along?" Very gruffly he replied, "I don't have time for that Mickey Mouse stuff!" I was taken aback by his reply but I said, "Someday you will have time." He turned his back on me and walked away.


What had happened? Had someone mocked his new found faith? Did he have second thoughts after the initial enthusiasm wore off? In any case the seed had fallen on a rock. It sprang up and it withered away.

A young man in our Sunday school class usually voiced a number of questions in each session. I invited him to lunch so we could talk one on one. He met each of the answers to his questions with, "Yes; but..." Throughout our conversation he resisted the gospel message with the same retort. In his profession and in his thinking only what he regarded as scientific facts were believeable. 1Cor. 2:14 "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
This young man trampled down the seed. The Spirit could not overcome his intellectual defenses.

Our office was housed in the corporate headquarters building of a chain of discount stores. I knew the president of the corporation (I'll call him 'Bob') only because we attended the same church. One evening we were leaving the building at the same time and I was impressed to invite Bob to a Bible study in my home. He thanked me and said he would ask his wife. (As I write this I am filled again with awe at the workings of the Holy Spirit) His wife (I'll call her 'Ann') said later, "I don't know why I agreed to go to the Bible study. At the time, I was interested only in golf, bridge and cocktails at the country club."

Bob and Ann decided to attend the study. Their knowledge of the bible was sketchy at best but they absorbed the Word quickly. When they heard the message of salvation they eagerly accepted Christ. Their lives changed completely. Eventually Bob was ordained and led hundreds to Christ through a prison ministry.

The seed fell on good ground "and yielded a crop a hundredfold."

All praise, glory and honor to our Father, God and his only Son, Jesus