Hard soil

“As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundred fold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” –Matthew 13:1-23

This parable gives me much hope for the hard hearted and those who seem to be distracted by this world. It gives me a confidence to preach the Gospel. The reason I have hope is that there is good soil. Soil is made good by being worked on by the Farmer. The soil is broken of its hardness, the rocky ground is cleared, and the weeds are taken out. It gives me hope because God can take a hard, rocky, weedy heart and prepare it for the Gospel. And when the soil is good, the Gospel will bear fruit. The scripture says that He can take a heart of stone and make it flesh. God’s work on a man’s heart is effective. And so I do not lose hope in preaching the Gospel, for I know that it has the power to penetrate men’s hearts.