Are you the good soil?

“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the Word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.” Matthew 13:23

My mom has always loved to garden. Personally, I’ve always had more of a black thumb than a green one. From the time I was a child, I can remember her on her hands and knees digging in the dirt and planting things. We had a large garden when I was really young, and I remember that I loved all the vegetables that she grew, but I hated the beets. Still do to this day. One thing I will never forget was the manure. There was never a more potent smell then when the manure would be dumped in our back yard for my mom to add to the soil in the garden. I remember her telling me that even though it smelled awful, it enriched the soil and caused it to be a better environment for things to grow. It was good soil.

Fast forward to my life now. My husband loves to garden. We don’t have much of a yard, so our “garden” consists of some flowers and herbs that are in separate pots on our back patio. We’re proud of it, though. He regularly waters it and makes sure that each plant is healthy. I remember a few weeks ago, he had to uproot one plant that was not looking so great so that he could replace the soil and then replant it. The soil had dried up and was no longer good for nourishing this plant.

My mind raced to this passage in Matthew 13 where Jesus unpacks the meaning of The Parable of the Sower. The seed that was sown fell on 4 different types of soil – the path, rocky ground, the thorns, and finally good soil. The only place the seed thrived was on the good soil, representing the one who hears the Word of God and understands it, embraces it, and lives it out. That is the good soil – a teachable and pliable heart. I want to be the good soil. I don’t want to be a mile wide and an inch deep. I want God’s Word to sink deep down into the very fibers of my being and produce fruit within me. I want to be increasingly more like Jesus every day. I want to be the good soil.

Are you the good soil? Is your heart pruned to readily receive the truth of God’s Word, even when it’s a hard word? Even when it’s a challenging word? Even when it’s a convicting word? Good soil is eager for good seed, which is truth. It hungers for truth, and when truth is planted, it flourishes and increases. That is good soil. Do you desire truth? Do you long for growth? Are you the good soil?