The Seed Snatcher

Last week, Chad began talking about the parable of the sower and said that he would start going in depth about the different kinds of soil that the seeds fall on. So, Sunday, he began talking about the seeds that fall along the path. (Matthew 13:18-19 & Luke 8:11-12).

As Chad pointed out, when one sows seeds, it is not one’s intention for them to fall on the path. The seeds are meant for fertile ground. But, sadly, not all ground is fertile. The soil, as it pertains to people, is describing the condition of the heart and how it receives the seed: which is the Word of God. Sure, Satan gets some blame for snatching the seed away; though just like any bird wanting to eat some bird seed that falls to the ground from the birdfeeder, he’s just taking advantage of what is there. It’s been made easy for him because the seed was already rejected.

So, what makes a heart so hard hearted that it would be in “path” condition and reject the seeds? Well, if we go back to the beginning chapters of Genesis, we can see how it all started with the fall of man. Our heart (soul) is composed of our mind, emotions, and will. In the beginning, Adam had all of those elements plus the fellowship with God. He hadn’t sinned and things were wonderful!! But, when Adam ate the “forbidden fruit“, it broke that fellowship with God. Sin entered in and he had the knowledge of good and evil. Fear, guilt, and shame were ushered in - which is why he and Eve realized their nakedness and made coverings for themselves and hid.

They also didn’t realize that when God had warned them that “you will surely die” He was talking about much more than eventual physical death. When they ate of that tree, they immediately died spiritually. They were deceived by Satan into thinking that they would not “surely die” and that they would be like God; knowing good and evil if they ate of the fruit. Satan loves to trick us into thinking that sin doesn’t have immediate or long term consequences. He loves to put the spin on things and tries to twist the situation so that we think we are actually getting something good out of it for ourselves. But, as we know, Satan is the father of lies and there is no truth to anything he says. Everything he does is meant for our destruction; not benefit.

So, because of the fall of Adam, we all have that sin nature and are void of the presence of the Spirit of God until we make the choice to accept Christ as our Savior. When we do, His Spirit lives in us and we once again have fellowship with Him. Though, it doesn’t mean that we still won’t make mistakes. Because of our knowledge of good and evil, we are still prone to making bad decisions if we allow ourselves to be flesh-controlled rather than Spirit-controlled. Chad said “belief is an act of the will.” You have to CHOOSE to believe and CHOOSE to be led by the Spirit. God brings us into alignment with Him by giving us His Holy Spirit, but we STILL have to choose to follow His guidance. We aren’t God’s little robots. We always have the choice whether to love and follow Him or not.

In the coming weeks, Chad will be journeying through those different types of ground and will end with talking about the good soil. To be that good soil, we have to prepare it. There’s a lot of work that goes into making good soil for the seeds to fall on. It take surrender, commitment, and obedience. We need to “till” our hearts like a farmer tills his soil so that we can receive the seeds that God wants to plant within us. Don’t let Satan snatch those seeds from you!!