Mark 4:26–29 (ESV) —
26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
NOTE: The first thing to note is the phrase "is as if" meaning that parts of the parable are similar but some parts are definitely not. I think the difference is probably in the scattering and also ignores the role of the Holy Spirit in bringing conviction to our soul. The sameness is that salvation results in change. The change is both surprising and gradual. The seed appears to do nothing, and then a blade appears out of the soil where there was nothing. Then more changes are seen until it is full grown. But at this point, the harvest, I think the parable probably has more to do with the church and not an individual. The church appeared out of nowhere. It has been growing throughout time. But at some point, when the church has done all that it can do, the harvest will happen.
The only problem with fitting this with today's time is that the church has not reached an apex, but rather has withered and turned to apostasy, mixing the world and what is holy into an unholy concoction. The remnant of true believers still exist, but we are badly compromised. We don't take our mission seriously. We have fallen in love with this world. The harvest is getting nearer each day. The world turns to evil solutions for answers, and yet we have the answer. O, how we need to be bold to share the truth.
PONDER:
- Do I shrink back in the face of statements of the culture?
- Do I stand up and share God's truth?
PRAYER: Father, give me the words and the boldness to stand up and share truth. Let me not shrink back.
No comments:
Post a Comment