The parable of the sower

Mark 4:3-9,14-20, “"Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." 9 And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."… 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."” 

We are many to know this parable. Most of the time, it is used in the context of evangelisation to make people be aware of the several factors that are involved in the reception of the message, when they preach the Gospel. 

Today, I would like to offer a substantially different and much more personal reading of this parable. Indeed, let us remember that before speaking to others, the words of Christ are always first aimed at His audience. Jesus wasn’t talking to the absentees, but to those who were present, to His disciples, to those who would have to carry the torch after Him.

Viewed in this light, this parable relates to us directly and therefore, concerns the way each of us receives the Word. 

The sower sows the word (vs 14): hence, the Word of God is a seed. By ‘‘word of God’’, I would like us to go beyond the Bible, beyond this Blog, beyond our evangelical books and even beyond our churches. Indeed, 

Job 33:14-16,19, “For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds, 16 then he opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings…19 "Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed and with continual strife in his bones…” 

Therefore, dreams, visions, trials, nature, TV, children, parents, friends, colleagues, conscience, readings, circumstances, opportunities and so on… are just some of the numerous means that God uses many times a day to speak to us. Did He not say that the stones will shout if His disciples stop praising Him (Luke 19:40)? There was even a time when He caused a donkey to speak, to stop the madness of a prophet (Numbers 22)! 

These are the many seeds that the Divine Sower goes out to sow in our lives every morning. The many seeds that He wishes to see germinate, flower and bear fruits. How many of them do we allow to bloom? How many of these seeds, of those words, do we choke every day? How many of them are quickly dismissed for one reason or the other? When the sweet voice of the Holy Spirit makes itself heard in our hearts, how often do we pay attention to it and how often do we do what is required of us? 

We only want the Lord to speak to us in the church or in dreams or via the prophecies of 'powerful' men and women of God; But what are we first doing with all the other words of God that we receive through the different channels that He uses at will? Let us start by being faithful with them before expecting to receive more. Let us fructify them instead of burying them like the wicked servant of the parable of minas and talents (Luke 19 & Matthew 25). 

Jesus said: “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” (John 6:63) In other words, we cannot afford the luxury to neglect any of His word. He even warned: “…Until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 5:18 & 24:35) 

Each word that the Lord sends our way every day, has the power to give us life…abundantly, the power to enable us to bear a sustainable fruit and the power to prosper us. 

Let us not be or no longer be, of those who see without seeing and hear without understanding because they have hardened their ears and closed their eyes in order not to convert and change their ways (Matthew 13:13-15). 

On the contrary, let us be of those who understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, the listening docile who allow themselves to be transformed, for to them, more will be given and they shall be in abundance while even the little that the non-listeners have, will be taken away from them (Matthew 13:12).

  

Here we are at the end of January. God wants to change your life in 2011 and your life will change in 2011; but you must first change the way you listen to He who can do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. Plough your heart so that it becomes a fertile soil, ready to receive the Word of God and the Seed of Life. 

God bless you !

Actions are reaped …

 

A few days ago I was speaking to somebody who was angry at someone else who had not kept his commitments. As I was listening to him, I inwardly smiled and shook my head because the ‘‘plaintiff’’ himself was a bit of an expert as well in broken promises. This started an idea of this post; and when the following passage was read in church on Sunday, as the text for the offerings, it echoed in me rather differently.

Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you."”

We almost all know this verse that is often used to motivate Christians to give their money generously. In fact, after having reminded the people that 2011 was the year of ‘‘more than enough’’, the preacher decided to show us the key to that abundance. He then read the verse above, insisting on the law of causality between the words (actions) : ‘Give’ and ‘Running over’.

While he was speaking, I could also see another direct relation between each one of our actions and what we reap from them. Let me explain:

Give anger, and it will be given to you, a good measure of anger, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

Give impatience, and it will be given to you, a good measure of impatience, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

Give stinginess, and it will be given to you, a good measure of stinginess, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

Give lies, and it will be given to you, a good measure of lies, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

Give treason, and it will be given to you, a good measure of treason, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

Give hatred, and it will be given to you, a good measure of hatred, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

Give theft, and it will be given to you, a good measure of stealing, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

Give cheating, and it will be given to you, a good measure of cheating, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

 

Give love, and it will be given to you, a good measure of love, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

Give compassion, and it will be given to you, a good measure of compassion, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

Give your time, and it will be given to you, a good measure of time, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

Give patience, and it will be given to you, a good measure of patience, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

Give joy, and it will be given to you, a good measure of joy, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

Give peace, and it will be given to you, a good measure of peace, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

And so on…

 

It is true that God can test us and that the devil roams around and jumps at any opportunity to burden us. Nonetheless, when certain things happen, - people dupe us; nobody comes to assist when we are mourning or bedridden; others tend to be hostile to us; people are unfaithful to us etc. – before blaming the Lord or Satan for it, we’d better take a close look at the nature of the actions that we have been sowing and for which we might well be already bountifully reaping the fruits…

 

Enjoy your week, Good sowing and Excellent harvest!

Ready to receive…

In my New Year message, I encouraged us to do something for God in 2011. Then, sharing my moving ‘out-in-on’ experiences with you, I proposed that we take advantage of the new year to empty and clean our lives’ attics. This article is more or less a continuation of those two previous postings. 

Matthew 9:16-17, “No one puts a piece of new cloth onto an old garment; for that which is put in to fill it up takes from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do men put new wine into old wineskins; else the wineskins burst, and the wine runs out, and the wineskins perish. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved together.” 

Luke 5:36-38, “And He also spoke a parable to them: No one puts a piece of a new garment on an old garment. Otherwise, both the new will tear, and the old does not match the piece from the new. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskin will perish. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved together.” 

Nowadays, many are those who have never seen a patched cloth and even fewer are those who are acquainted with the secrets of the fabrication and conservation of wine. That’s why it is difficult to understand the depth of these words of Jesus without delving into the ways and customs of His time. 

In those days, clothes were made of wool that shrunk when wet, tearing loose on the edges of the already weakened old fabric, and making a worse rent than before.

Moreover, the wine was not preserved in glass bottles as now, but in wineskins (bottles made of goat or sheep skin) which become tender with age and usage and would be easily ruptured. New wine put into them would ferment, and swell and burst them open, while new skins would yield to the fermenting wine, and be strong enough to hold it from bursting. 

This was such a common knowledge and commonsense that Jesus said: “No one puts…” In other words, "No one in his/her right mind would do such a thing…" 

The Lord uses these two examples to illustrate a deep spiritual principle. It is as foolish to combine the piety of John the Baptist and/or of the Pharisees with what He is offering, than to patch a new cloth onto an old garment: there is a certain ‘fitness’ of things (it is fit to do them in a certain proper way…). 

Who knows, maybe for years, you have tried everything without success or maybe you simply want to go to a higher dimension this year? You may have taken the decision to do something for God in 2011 instead of just bringing your “shopping list” to Him? You may even be in the middle of a spiritual move-out? 

Well, I have good news for you: since God looks at the heart, if yours is willing and wholly to Him, even if you haven’t requested any other thing in 2011 than the grace to do His Will, He will surprise you and shower you with His favour. Think of Solomon ; he only asked for wisdom and God gave him riches and glory on top. That’s why I boldly say that if your heart is willing and completely sold out to Him, He will not fail to surprise you and to invade your life in 2011. 

Get ready to receive His liberal gifts. Take some new wineskins to receive the divine dew. New mental, moral, affective, physical, social, professional, academic, spiritual etc wineskins ; in short, just be a brand new receptacle for the manna that is about to fall down from Heaven for you. Do not try to mend your old clothes; but on the contrary, like the blind Bartimaeus on the way to Jericho, throw away your old cloak (Mark 10:50) for Jesus has some new ones to throw on you and enter in the glory of your Master!

In CHRIST JESUS Alone, for some new exploits. 

God bless you!

Lessons from a move on…

As you may have noticed, I have been blogging less often than usual during the last few weeks.

Indeed, I have just turned the page of just over than 10 years of life! My family and I have left the country that has welcomed us since September 2000, for a new adventure. This whole experience has inspired me a few reflections :

  

10 years is long, but 10 years is also short :

 

We generally do not realize that time is flying: it is as if it was yesterday. But if we bring things at the scale of a child arriving in a country at less than a year old and leaving at 11, it then makes all the difference. This realization led me to reflect on the brevity of life which also runs so insidiously that, before one realizes that time have long passed, it is already time for the Great Departure. I have even recently heard with a lot of displeasure, the news of the death of a former schoolmate…

 

Say move and say separations.

 

Material separations: It is time for great cleaning and riddance. We have to throw away, give away or sell so many things that have seemed to matter to us in the past. As for the things that we obstinately want to take along, a little bit of breakage during the transit will quickly settle the matter. There are also all those things which had been forgotten in a corner that are found and rediscovered. What I note is that this must also take place at the spiritual level. We must get rid of everything that will not effectively help us to progress in our new adventure and we must also sometimes re-learn the meaning of forgotten/neglected values and Bible verses. Ideally we should actually move regularly from one spiritual level to the other, without having to wait for the opportunity of a physical move (which is not always frequent). 

Affective separations: We have to look at - perhaps for the last time - many people with whom we have shared all kinds of experiences and that we have come to love. Abraham had to part from Lot that he had yet embarked with him. This is a good reminder that alone we came on this earth and alone we shall depart. The course of our lives is unique. Should we then avoid to cleave to avoid suffering? Difficult to say and also difficult to do. Even Jesus had a hard time with it: “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful to death…”

 

Spiritual separations: This goes far beyond simply moving churches. Neighbourhoods, cities, countries, political, administrative or economic institutions are under the control of powers and territorial spirits that very often influence how those under their ‘jurisdiction’ think and act. Getting away from their grip is not easy, and then sometimes we like the 'French', the 'Cameroonian',  the 'U.S.' etc. model or way of life and have no desire to go elsewhere. The episode of the golden calf is a fine example of this difficulty. The children of Israel worshipped the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob whom they had just learned the Name, YHWH, through Moses. However, at the first opportunity, when they wanted to make a representation of that God, they carved Him as a calf: a reminiscence of the Egyptian bull-god Apis, who was a symbol of fertility, sexual power and physical force. You see, it is not enough to leave a place, a job or even a church: one must also know how to and be able to break away from the gods of that place, that office or that church. 

Say move, and also say movement

 

I remembered that we are really just passing on Earth and that NO earthly thing is final or to remain. This is why God asked Moses to build a Tabernacle that was to be assembled and ‘dis-assembled’ all the time. As it is often said, ‘‘No condition is permanent.’’ Let’s always be ready to leave, and especially, ready to go back to Him from Whom we came. 

 

Finally, say move out, and say move in, hence adjustment and fitting in.

 

Here as well, things are far from obvious. It takes a certain time to fit in the new life; a certain while to be fully operational at the new level. There are a lot of trials and errors before finding the right combinations. During this period, one has to be exceptionally alert and teachable, because no matter one realizes it or not, THINGS HAVE CHANGED; Old things have passed away and behold ALL THINGS ARE NEW! The mindset has to be renewed and some more trinkets that were thought to be indispensables finally reveal themselves to be worthless. 

 

To sum it up, let me say this: 

1) We don’t move out by caprice or our own will: God Himself, must give the starting signal. The children of Israel could only dismantle camp when the pillar of fire or the cloud, both types of the Spirit of God, moved. 

2) Moving out teaches us to go to what is essential and to content ourselves with what is really useful. It teaches us not to clutter our lives with vain frills. Once we have removed this ballast, we quickly realize that the nacelle of our social, professional, and / or spiritual life goes higher to reach unexpected heights. Jesus used to say: “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell.” And also, “"Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.” (Mark 9:43-47 et 10:29-30)

In other words, if any of your physical, material, moral or spiritual possessions may hinder your spiritual ascension in Christ, get rid of it without remorse or hesitation and you will reap the fruits a hundredfold. It is hard, yes, but it is good…

 

Here has come 2011; we have resolved not just to wait on God to do something for us, but instead, we have planned to ‘‘surprise Him’’ this year by doing something for Him. Now who knows? A small offload might just make the task much easier: let’s think about it… 

My prayer is that free from all those spiritual junk, you may take the eagle flight and soar very high. 

Once again, I wish you an Excellent 2011. 

God bless you.