Seeds on the Path

In worship a few weeks ago, the preacher talked about the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13. As he talked about how we are sometimes like each of these kinds of soil, I started thinking about churches - and how our churches are sometimes like each of these kinds of soil.

"Some of the seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. (verse 3) "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path." (verse 19).

Are churches ever closed off to the word of God? Are we hardened so much that we ignore the word of God?

I can think of meetings I've been in when we haven't tried to discern the will of God. Or, we think we know what it is, but we don't want to hear it, so we ignore it. The word can't take root, so the seed of God's word does not grow. We don't allow it.

Why is that? Are we too cynical? Are we too hardened by previous failures? Are we to entrenched in what we have done before to be open to the idea of something new? Are we so selfish about our churches - and what our churches offer us - that we refuse to hear what might be done that would be for the good of someone else? Are we so determined that the people who are welcomed to the church must be like us that we don't accept anyone else?

How do we hinder other people from understanding the word? Are we so set in our own interpretation of bibical scripture that we won't allow the thought of something different to be considered? By us or by someone else?

What hardens our hearts to the word of God? How can we change our ways?

(To be continued tomorrow.)