Which one are you?......

Luke 8:11-15

11Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. ¹⁴And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. ¹⁵As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

So in this parable we have the following types of people:

1. From the Path - those who hear the word, but the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so they may not believe and be saved.
2. On the rocks - those who hear the word, receive it with joy, but have no root, they believe for a while and in time of testing fall away (do not persevere)
3. In the Thorns - They hear, but they go on their way choked by the cares, riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.
4. Good soil - hear the word, hot it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit from patience.

Which one are you? Honestly I can see myself in each one to a certain extent and at certain times of my life. Right now I see not only myself but all of America in #3. We are being choked by our fears of the future, thinking about earthly things and not heavenly things, not trusting God to supply and sustain. Alot of people are still living a life for riches and pleasure, and while they are doing this America is slowly (maybe not so slowly) being torn apart and freedoms being eroded. We are only worried about ourselves and what we can do to keep ourselves afloat, not looking at the whole picture, and what our selfishness is bringing to a country that once stood for something different.

I want to leave you with something I read in my "Stepping UP" Bible study this morning. That is where the above passage came from too. This portion of the study by Beth just hit me between the eyes! To set it up, her and her husband where in war torn Angola serving the people there. One of the men working with them said this "One of the most frustrating things is that in villages where they receive seed, they often eat the seed rather then planting it and bring forth the harvest". This really struck Beth. God gave her this answer to her questions of "Why do some people see the results of the Word and others don't? Why do some study the Word of God yet remain in their captivity?" Here is what God gave her:
"Some just eat the seed and never sow it for a harvest". You want examples? Why have many of us heard hundreds of messages on freedom, done every line of Bible studies like Breaking Free, wept over them, been blessed by them and even memorized parts of them, yet remain in captivity? Because we ate the seed instead of sowing it. Why have many of us read books on forgiving people, known the teachings were true and right, cried over them, marked then up with our highlighters, yet remain in our bitterness? Because we ate the seed instead of sowing it. Why have we repeatedly heard how Christ has forgive our sinful pasts and sobbed with gratitude over the grace if it, yet remain in bondage to condemnation? Because we ate the seed instead of sowing it."

There is so much more good stuff in this portion of the lesson, but I would have to retype her whole study which I think would be wrong. I just want to add a couple other things that she said. "God's word is to be applied to our reality" and after we eat the seed instead of sowing it "Then we charge God with unfaithfulness when we don't get the harvest He promised". Did you see that? We eat the seed, then charge God with being unfaithful! That sure is us isn't it?!

So again I ask, which one are you?