“Jesus Speaks To The Heart” – MARK 4:14-20

In identifying Jesus as the “eternal Word”, the Holy Spirit chose the Greek word “logos”, with the idea of an ongoing eternal conversation. Scripture presents Him as the continuing divine discourse with mankind. God says, “Come let us reason together”. God asks us to meditate, study, and understand. Even in the concept of “repentance” we are called into a discussion with God and asked to undergo a “change of mind”.

Within the greatest command itself, we are called to love God with all of our mind.

But, may we never lose sight that Jesus speaks through our minds to our hearts. When we allow Jesus to speak to our mind only, we eventually become legalistic. On the other hand, if we only let Him speak to our heart, we become emotion-driven universalists. The balance is found when we sense that God loves us enough to communicate His will to us so we might be saved. When we allow God to speak to our hearts through our minds, we become … well, Christians.

The hardened roadways are hearts made hard by distrust.

Whether they do not trust that God exists or that God can really save them, they have no place or time for Jesus. Hearts are not born hardened, they harden over time. In this beautiful country of ours, there was a time when there were no roads. It may take time and a great deal of effort, but even our interstate highways can be ripped up, tilled up and smoothed over so that, in time, you would never know a road had been there.

Please, do not give up on those with roadbed hearts.

The rocky soils are hearts that are unstable.

Instead of leaning on Jesus, they go with the emotional flow of life. When the going is good, then Jesus is the answer. When times are tough, Jesus is disposable. Every field has a finite number of rocks which can all be removed with enough time and effort. Soil can be tilled and made more stable, ready for deep roots.

Please, do not give up on rocky hearts.

The thorn-covered soils are hearts that are easily distracted.

Jesus may be a part of their life, but He is not Lord of their life. We can become too busy for Jesus and His church, expecting Him to understand that we have other responsibilities. “Round-Up” can kill even the most stubborn weeds and thorns, and with time and effort priorities can be restored.

Please, do not give up on thorny hearts.

Sometimes, we may be one type of soil on one issue and another type of soil on a different issue. It is unwise and unrealistic to say “I have obeyed the gospel, therefore I am and will always be good soil”. This may be one of the hardest lessons for Christians to learn. When we get bogged down in man-made traditions and personal opinions that we try to assert are God’s will, we might be “roadways” that forget that only Jesus is ALWAYS right.

We can never forget that Jesus calls us to overcome this life.

When we buy into the “health and wealth gospel” and question why God is not blessing us as we “deserve” and wilt under life’s pressures we become “rocky soil” that strangles the life out of us.

If we neglect personal holiness and become “Sunday-only” Christians, we live amongst the thorns and forget that Jesus must remain our Lord.

Good soil needs fertilizer and fallow time to remain fruitful … let us never neglect devotional time and worship time with our Savior!