Has so much junk happened in your life that it has hardened your heart? Are you at a point where nothing really seems to sink in? Are you simply doing the same things day to day, with the same results? Maybe you are hoping for a different outcome….but the outcome just keeps repeating itself? When Jesus is talking to you, how long are you going to allow those darker voices inside to pull you away from the truths that Jesus wants to share? Life is not easy, it’s a huge struggle on the wrong path (which always get’s worse) and it’s a struggle on the path of truth (but less of a struggle and it always gets better)…..which path will you choose? You will struggle either way. Jesus will let you “Have it Your Way”
Mark 4:13-15 (TNIV)
13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.Mark 4:4 (TNIV)
As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
Of course, we just read this parable of the sower (which is often called the “parable of parables” by the way) in which the farmer (Jesus) sows the seed (God’s word and wisdom) and some of the seed falls on a hardened path and won’t grow. What happens to that seed…..it is often snatched by birds or simply lays there in the shallow, trampled soil and doesn’t germinate and grow.
So….maybe you don’t feel any need for change in your life, no desire for anything other than the way it is. Maybe you feel like you have no regrets as you look of your shoulder, no guilt for the sins you’ve committed and you feel no need for forgiveness. There are forces in this world that are glad you feel that way because they want nothing more than for you feel that way, indeed, Satan is the great deceiver. And….Jesus will give you what you want…you have free will; He says, “Have it your way”. You see, Jesus is a Burger King kind of guy sometimes.
This parable also speaks to another type of person, a person who is new in relationship with Jesus and is excited and temporarily enthusiastic, but who has not truly surrendered to God’s will. You see, much of this seed on the path will perish simply because it is not yet planted in fertile ground…it remains on shallow ground. As we are entering a relationship with Jesus, until we have experienced the deepness of His love, we remain vulnerable and unstable in many ways. All it takes is some deep conflicted event in our lives like losing a job, a broken relationship or the loss of a loved one to start falling away in faith. This is how Satan operates…….he takes our eyes off the truth of life, Jesus!
It is important in these times of conflict to continue to seek and apply God’s truths in our lives so that we can and will continue to grow rather than to fall away where the birds of life can simply take us away.
So, where is your heart? Is it hardened like the soil? Albert Einstein once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Well, Jesus is often a Burger King Jesus, as you continue to live with a hardened heart and seek to do it your way, he will say oak, “Have it Your way”…the same old tired thing with the same old tired results. But also, as you come to Him and seek Him in your life, He says, “Have it Your Way” — truth, fulfillment, eternity…and end to the insanity!
I used to have a hardened heart. I was so wounded in childhood and then in my young adult life that I had put a wall up around my heart to protect myself. Even once I was a Christian for many years I still wasn’t living an abundant life because of these wounds. Desperate I finally cryed out for help and God sent me to a Christian counselor that did Inner Healing. I went through the process of forgiving my parents and my x-husband. Jesus healed my heart! I had to get to the root and get it healed. Now I am living an abundant life in Christ and I’m helping others to heal their hurt hardened hearts!
Thank you for sharing Portia 🙂 When I listen to people seeking advice, the first thing that I am looking for is what wounds they have to heal from. Like you, I had many. Mine involved the breakup of my family (my parents) and subsequent drug use. Yes, Jesus heals! Through my faith in the great healer…….I found healing! And, like you, I am living an abundant life in Christ and seek to help others to heal their hardened hearts. God bless you Portia. Again, thank you for sharing!