Manure Happens

In my reading today I came across the parable of the four soils and wondered what could I say about this? As usual whenever you contemplate and pray over God’s word things do come to mind. Here is the parable in Luke 8:

⁵ “A farmer went out to plant his seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it. ⁶ Other seed fell among rocks. It began to grow, but the plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns that grew up with it and choked out the tender plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop that was a hundred times as much as had been planted!” When he had said this, he called out, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

The first thing that came to mind and what I thought I would be writing about was the fact the 3 out of four of these soils produced nothing and the people that fall under the three non producing categories were headed for Hell. Then the more I thought about it the fertile soil kept coming to mind. I started thinking back to my farming days, we had farms that had exceptional soil and some with marginal soil and we were always working to improve the marginal soil and we did it by managing our manure. Because manure happens and it’s what you do with it that counts. The same thing can be said for the manure that happens in your life. If you manage it properly it will make you a better soil (person) however if you don’t manage it properly it can cause great damage to your life. God made the soil and the job of a farmer is to be a good steward of it and managing manure is a good way to do that. Farmers say manure is money. God also made you and it’s your job to be a good steward of you. So take a lesson from a farmer and use the manure in life that is thrown your way and use it to improve you.

Just in case you have forgotten or perhaps never heard the parable of the four soils explained I have included Jesus’ explanation in verses 11-15.

¹¹ “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is God’s word. ¹² The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved. ¹³ The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation. ¹⁴ The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. ¹⁵ And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.