Good morning!

​Especially in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus is often found sharing and teaching through parables. Here is an example followed by some thoughts about this.
 
Matthew 13:3-9 “Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.””
 
Many of those reading this have heard this part of the Matthew’s Gospel and know that what follows is the disciples asking why Jesus spoke in parables. We know from His response that, if our heart is hard our eyes and ears will be closed and we will miss His message and call to us.
 
A few years back, this part of the Gospel was the main reading and basis of the sermon which focused on an idea related to this – the idea of commitment (commitment as an inflexion point or an enunciation…)…when we make our commitment to Christ, our surrender to Him, our eyes and ears are opened.
 
We know this is not a one-time event – that keeping our eyes and ears open means deepening our relationship with Christ. What makes that possible is God is now indwelling through the Holy Spirit.
 
So how can we deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ?
 
As I was listening to that sermon, a clear thought came to mind about the idea of “good soil” or “rich soil”…our soil – our hearts become good or rich when we spend time with God… through His Word…we can enrich the soil of our faith and how we live it every day, we can enrich the openness of the hearts (openness of the soil to receive and nurture truth) by spending time in God’s Word.
 
And for me, this thought becomes really interesting when you read John 1:1-5 and 1:14:
 
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
 
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
 
Here John shares that the Word of God is not just scripture, it is God, through Jesus Christ, the Word became one of us.
 
For me, this seems to tie things together – even with Jesus back in heaven, we have God with us through the Holy Spirit and we have God’s Word in scripture which tells us the Word was God. So, if we want to enrich the soil of our hearts, open our eyes and ears, and to really understand and embrace our relationship with Christ, have our faith grow and be shared in the world, and for Christ’s light to shine and overcome darkness…we need to spend time in the Word – it will bring us to closer to God.
 
So much for my musings. 

What do you see in the soil of your heart?

Is it rich from time with God, in His Word?

Or is suffering from lack of water and nutrients?
 
Lord Jesus, my prayer for each of us as we enter this weekend is that each of us are finding time daily to enrich the soil of our hearts, where our faith is nurtured and grown through the Your presence through the Holy Spirit, by being in the Word! Amen!
 
Have a weekend filled with the Peace that comes from knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
 
Patrick

Good morning!

I think the last several years, which have at times seemed surreal, dreamlike at times and even nightmarish at other times, have driven me deeper into my faith. My desire to know my Savior, Lord Jesus, to walk with him, has been a constant drum beat in my life, getting more intense as each day passes. Maybe, just maybe, it is the ticking of the clock, my getting older…LOL, but I don’t think so. God has placed on my heart the consuming desire to know Him, to know Him through His Son, Jesus.
 
So with that as a back drop, I reached back to some past thoughts on what it means to be a Christ follower:
 
“A Christian is: a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which Christ loves, a voice through which Christ speaks, and a hand through which Christ helps.”
Saint Augustine
 
When I saw this quote it just resonated with me. It seems to speak to the idea that living as a Christian is being a person that produces fruit in living, fruit that flows out of faith founded in God’s gift of mercy and grace, leading us to surrender our lives to Christ, laying our lives down, picking up our cross to follow Jesus, living for Him and His glory, not for ourselves.
 

• A mind through which Christ thinks – see Philippians 2:5-8 – “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

 
Other related verses - 1 Corinthians 2:16; Luke 19:10; Luke 5:16; Matthew 9:36. A commentary from one person about what the mind of Christ means – “Having the mind of Christ means we understand God’s plan in the world—to bring glory to Himself, restore creation to its original splendor, and provide salvation for sinners.”
 

• A heart through which Christ loves – see Matthew 11:29 – “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” In just reading this verse , I can almost sense the gentleness of Jesus and His deep and abiding love.

 

• A voice through which Christ speaks – as we study the Word (see John 1:1-5 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” ), we become equipped by Christ to actively share the Good News – both that we are all sinners, not one of us has our own righteousness (Romans 3:9-11), and then that indeed, through Christ’s perfect sacrifice we can be saved (John 3:16-18). We are a voice that Christ can use.

 

• A hand through which Christ helps – see Matthew 25:34-36 – “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’” Our hearts ought to be so full of Christ’s presence through the Holy Spirit, that we bear this kind of fruit of service to others, putting ourselves aside to see to the needs of others. In this we do need to remember that our motive in this work is not earning salvation, but rather an outpouring of the love, grace and mercy we received when we became children of God (see Ephesians 2:8–9). Other related scripture references include: James 1:27; Mark 1:40-41;

 
This quote evokes the idea of transformation and sanctification – the change that happens when we are reborn and become children of God. We are dependent on Christ through the Holy Spirit to live transformed lives, lives that reflect the light of Christ. We become a tool, servant of Christ when we surrender our lives to him. The more we trust and are fully surrendered the more our lives look like that of Christ.

How is God moving you to deepen your relationship with Him? In what ways are you seeking Jesus? 
 
Lord Jesus, my prayer for each of us as we go into this weekend is that we each can open up ourselves to know Jesus more deeply and then to let Him, through the Holy Spirit, to fully use us – mind, heart, voice and hands – to share Him with the world, to shine His light! Amen!
 
Have a weekend filled with the Peace that comes from knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
 
Patrick