As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
Matthew 13:23 ESV

Too many times, we read about the Parable of the Sower and come to the conclusion that it is about becoming a Christian. Now, Jesus certainly does intend for us to include the time when a person first hears the gospel as one part of His story, but we need to remember that our relationship with Christ is more than a onetime experience. Being a Christian is becoming a garden where God comes to plant new seed every day. Sometimes our hearts are so hard, that we open the Bible, hear a nice sermon on the car radio or maybe even visit with someone on staff from our church, but our heart is elsewhere. We already have our day planned. No one, including God is going to alter our schedule, because we already know what is best. On the other hand, maybe we turn on Christian radio station and smile, tap our feet to the music and begin our drive to work with a cheerful “Christian” attitude. But somewhere along the way we get cut off in traffic, a construction zone blocks the road to our job, or we run into a snow squall along the way. Our smile disappears, we flick off the radio and that joyful feeling evaporates. Some days we may even dodge both of those obstacles and still are staying on track but there has also been something besides God’s word that has taken root in our heart. We may be harboring a secret sin, a longing for something outside of God’s plan for us. This is more than just an unexpected distraction, rather this is a desire for sin that we have hidden from everyone, including ourselves. This kind of problem may stay hidden for days, weeks or even years, but when we allow it to grow in God’s garden, it puts down deeper and deeper roots, until it chokes out God’s word and His plan for our lives. By this time the Christian life may seem hopeless, and we wonder where the excitement and joy of serving God has gone, but the good news is that there is still hope because every day Jesus goes out again to plant. This is a new day, and our Christian life is not just about our efforts, or getting goals accomplished, it is Christ in you and me. Just as a garden is not just about digging up the soil, weeding and taking out the stones. A garden is nothing until someone plants a seed and Jesus is planting a seed that contains the life of heaven in us again this morning. If we will only allow the gentle rainfall of His Spirit to soften our heart, invite His strong hands to dig out the stones of shallowness and pull out the weeds of sin, then that seed will grow again as God intended. We may not see the harvest this afternoon, but with quiet trust and patience one day it will yield the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control: (Galatians 5:22-23). So don’t give up hope, but instead let’s ask ourselves, “What is my life producing today, and Is Christ alive and growing in my heart?”