Luke 8:4-5
"While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus form 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 ate it up.'"
Luke 8:11-12
"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."
The gospel is not grass seed. Grass seed can be scattered on top of a plot of land and left there. Eventually it will work it's way into the soil. But the gospel message doesn't actually take root in a person's life if it just stays on the surface. It needs to be buried, and buried deep.
Hearing the word of God isn't enough, and even hearing and believing isn't enough. We need to allow it to penetrate our soul, every fiber of our being, and take root in the deepest part of us. That means it needs to be allowed to touch those dark parts - all the sin, all the fear, all the insecurity.
As Hebrews 4:12 says, the word of God penetrates even to dividing "joint and marrow." No part of that sounds like a surface message. If we truly want the Lord to work through us, that seed has to be planted deep enough that it touches all that we are and replaces it with all God is.
Don't hear the message of Christ and just let it stay on the surface. Let it become you. Breathe it, work it, live it. Bury the seeds of hope and forgiveness and salvation way down deep where the roots can grow. Plants start growing far below the earth before they every spring upward, so make sure your roots are strong and come from what the Lord has planted within you.
