Daily Devotion

Every detail of this parable would be real to its hearers because every detail came from everyday life.  Four kinds of "ground" are mentioned.  (1) There was the hard ground at the side of the road.  The seed might fall on this kind of ground in two ways.  These fields in Palestine were in the form of long, narrow strips divided by grass paths; the result was that they became beaten as hard as stone by those who used them.  As the sower scattered his seed some might fall there, and it had no chance to grow.

 

There was another way of sowing.  Sometimes a sack of seed was put on the back of a donkey; a hole was cut in the corner of the sack and then the beast was led up and down as the seed flowed out.  As the donkey was brought along the road to the field, some of the seed fell on the road; the birds swooped on it and gobbled it up.

 

There are some people into whose hearts Christian truth can find no way to enter.  This is due to the hearer's lack of interest which comes from a failure to realize how important the Christian decision is.  Christianity fails to make an impact on so many people because they are indifferent.  They think that it is irrelevant to living, and they can get on well enough without it. 

 

There was rocky ground.  It was a narrow layer of earth over limestone rock.  Much of Galilee was like that.  Any seed that fell there germinated all right, but because the soil was so shallow, the heat of the sun soon withered the sprouting seed and it died.  Many a person begins the Christian way only to fall out by the wayside.  The fact is that with Christianity it is a case of all or nothing.  A person is safe only when he gives himself in total commitment to Jesus.

My Life Application

My Prayer and Praise