On a recent Tuesday's @ 8 Episode, I talked about the beginnings of my journey in being a digital witness of my faith. It began with writing devotions and sending them via email to family and friends.
The practice started in August of 2005 without any plan or timeline in place. Almost 7 years later, I finally felt God calling me to end this season of ministry.
As we move into the summer, we will be sharing devotions from this time via our blog every Friday. It's the same rhythm I chose as I sent out these devotions each week. The devotions only consisted of my writing, so the images you see associated with each devotion are brand new creations using the Bible app or Canva.
God's Love...PLANTS SEEDS!
"While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 'A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown."
When he said this, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear.'
His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, 'The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, 'though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.'
'This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The 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. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop." - Luke 8:4 - 15 (NIV)
Where are you on the path? Are you on the rock, or among the thorns? Who do you know that may be struggling, "choked by life's worries", or perhaps that is you, right now.
Regardless of where you are...remember who the planter is and what He is planting: God and His Word. God's love plants seeds! Scripture is readily available to us, and it's very easy to forget it's there. We get so caught up in life and living, that we forget to honor the one who gave us this life. We forget to hear the word and use it. Our crop begins to dry up and wither when His Word is put aside.
But God has planted this seed, His word in our hearts. He has given us words to live by, words to believe and words to produce a good crop. Through his son, Jesus Christ, we are given all the hope and encouragement we need to stand on the good soil and continue in His purpose for our lives, to love God and serve His people, to share the Good News of Jesus' death and resurrection!
I want to leave you with verse 15, because it sums up this parable and gives us exactly what we need to hear. Whether you are high on life or down in a valley, God is constantly planting seeds in your life and in mine. He is planting seeds in the people you work with, meet and share life with. May your prayer continue to be that the Holy Spirit will water those seeds and produce good crops so God's kingdom will spread far beyond what we can even imagine.
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