Parable of the Soils...which one are you?

*****I am not finished with this yet.

I am wondering how long I have before my Morgan Hope comes busting down here because she can't go to sleep without me. I have had so many things going through my mind lately and no time to share.

I am in the middle of two bible studies right now that kind of coincided with the other for me this week.

The first time I did "Stepping Up" by Beth Moore I could not get out of my head a story that she told of visiting Angola. I don't have it sitting in front of me so I will try to give you the general idea. She was talking about how her and Keith went to this village and the people who lived there did not even know how to travel to another city since it was so war torn they were afraid to anyway. So, she goes on to say that Isaak the guy who works over there from Life Today told them one of the most frustrating things that they dealt with. They would give the people seed so they could plant and harvest crops but instead of planting (or sowing) the seed the people were so hungry that they would eat the seed.

So this gets me on the parable of the soils in Matthew 13:18-23. Please stay with me even though it is so familiar.

We basically have four types of people here (and really two categories...1. Those who are children of God and 2. Those who are children of the devil). And of course when I say seed I am talking about the Word of God.

1. One who hears the message and doesn't get it because the evil one has snatched it away from their heart. (The seed sown along the path)

2. One who receives the word at first with great joy, but has no root and under trial and testing falls away. This is the type person who has head knowledge yet uses human logic. The one who goes through a trial or loss and says hey if God is good then why is this happening. I thought I was going to tap into this Christian thing and live on easy street. Being a Christian is not for them. And this person falls away quickly. (The seed that fell on rocky places)

3. And for this one I just need to stick the whole verse in here: 22The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. (emphasis mine)

This is where I would say cultural christianity comes in. Especially for those of us who live in the Bible belt. This third person is the one who does not mature in their walk with Christ. They go to church on Sunday to check it off their list. They do not fully yield their life to the Holy Spirit and miss the Kingdom agenda and their purpose for being here because they are SO distracted. This person is unfruitful because the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke their life out.

Mark 4:19 says this in speaking of this verse: 19but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.

Luke 8: 14 says 14The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.

So three more things that I think come in to place in believers who are "lukewarm":

a. the worries of this life

b. the desires for other things

c. distracted by the finer things in this world system: riches (the deceitfulness of riches) and pleasures

This is so easy for us in the United States to take up "friendship" with the world.