Mark 4:13-20 -- “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.’ "
*******************************
It is amazing to me how “forgetful” a people we are. We can go through life having amazing experiences, seeing infinite beauty and awesome miracles, but over time, these diminish into distant memories, becoming mere shadows of their former intensity. Sometimes, this is a good thing; great pain and sorrow can also decrease as we move on. But it is sort of sad how these bright, burning moments of our lives can fade away.
When I was in junior high school and high school, I had the opportunity to go to “church camp” every summer for a week. I looked forward to these weeks excitedly, I’ll admit, not especially for the faith-enriching experiences, but for the fun times hanging out with my good friends. Over the course of these weeks, we had activities and fellowship time as well as beginning and ending each day with a short worship service. At the end of each week, on Saturday night, we had what called “Covenant Night”. The worship service held on that evening was a time to reflect on the words and experiences from the week and, if you felt called, renew your commitment to God or even, if not done before, accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
I remember coming home from these weeks of church camp filled with the Holy Spirit. The culmination of each week in Covenant Night always had a dramatic impact on me. I even specifically remember after one of these nights, thinking that I had the received the calling to become an ordained minister or priest when I grew up; powerful things happened on those Saturday nights when the Holy Spirit was at work in our hearts. It was hard to come back into “the world” after these weeks. It was as if I had been living in this amazing and encouraging environment, growing my faith, but when I went back to my “normal” life, these memories and feelings would quickly fade.
Like the seed in Jesus’ parable, the Word and Spirit would leave me within a couple of weeks, or even a few days, as I returned to my old ways. Sometimes the Word fell on the path or on rocky ground. Other times it would take hold and grow, but be choked away by the World.
We can lament at these lost and faded memories. We look back on those powerful experiences, those life-changing moments when we could clearly see our purpose or be given a great gift of encouragement and be saddened at the missed opportunity to move our lives forward in a new or different direction. Sometimes, we punish or even consider ourselves unworthy of experiencing these things again, so we shrink back from their potential. We choose to stay in the World and conform to it because that is, in a way, more comfortable. We don’t want to go to the mountaintop again fearful we will drift back into the valley, saddened by yet another goal not reached or commitment unfulfilled.
I believe the best way for us to keep moving forward on our Walk, using these experiences and moments for our benefit, is to keep seeking them out. When we reside in the place where we open ourselves for miracles and wonders to occur, we are enriched. And even if these memories fade and their first fruits wither and die, they become a part of our being, developing and fertilizing the soil of our life in the same way the dying leaves of Autumn each year have purpose, providing nourishment to tiny seeds under the ground, waiting to arise from their slumber as the sun warms the earth each Spring.
So, I encourage you, spend time in the Word. Seek out miracles to experience. Be in fellowship with those who will care for your tiny blossoms. Do not be concerned if these things do not resonate and reside with you every time. If you stray from the path and go long periods without reading the Bible or worshiping God (at church or anywhere you like), never be afraid to come back and begin again...and again...and again. These feelings and experiences, even if passed away, have enriched the soil of your life and with each passing, made for more fertile ground in which the Seed can take root, prosper and bring forth great fruit in wonderful abundance.
No comments:
Post a Comment