There would be no Christians who never heard this parable of a sower. And I am sure that everyone will agree we want to be good soil and bear much fruit. However, our generation faces a challenge, a huge one, even before we begin to till the field. It’s because the world tells us that we are innocent, that we are all good, and that no true evil exists. Moreover, now many Christians believe Satan is just a symbol of a misguided good-will. At this point, if the world were right, the parable of the sower would lose all its ground.

However, as we carefully listen to the parable, we realize Jesus already includes all these claims in it. In a sense, this parable is a prophecy for our generation. Even if we preach the gospel on the wide and easy path to hell, the people in it will not likely recognize the gospel. It's because it is full of pleasure and excitement. When a person is obsessed with a personal goal, he cannot spend any of his time on the gospel, just as the rock cannot provide any nutrition to seed. And when a person believes in self-innocence and self-righteousness, there is no place for the gospel to take its root. The person refuses to be broken into the soil and cultivated. And when a person allows worldly concerns to fill his daily life, they cover his entire life just as weeds eventually dominate the whole field.

Let us take a look at our bookcases. What kinds of books fill them? Let us open our computer hard drives. What files take the most space? How much do we spend money on our faith development? Do we spend any? Most of us don’t miss paying for cable TVs or internet service every month. Compared to our entertainment, how big or small is our spending on spiritual reading?

Where are we heading? Would it be enough all for our life if we could finish paying our mortgages? What are our children’s life-goals? Paid a six-figure salary in their twenties? Or do they have any? Just to be themselves? At home, do we ever discuss our life goals and our faith?

If we expect and wait for God to change us into good soil, we test God. God called us to his vineyard to work and bear fruit. Christ is the vine, and we are his branches. Let us till our life, our heart. Let us remove rocks and weeds from there so that the gospel may take its root in our lives and bear the fruit of life eternal.