That Hits Different Sample

Protect Your Soil, Protect Your Soul 

The average person gets interrupted every eight minutes. Whether it’s the alert of a text message, a FaceTime from a friend, or one of the 5,000 daily ads you’re exposed to — chances are you’ll get interrupted by something before you’re done with this Bible study today. 

While we may experience more interruptions today thanks to technology, the human race has always been easily distracted. 

In this parable we’ve been studying, Jesus mentions a third kind of soil that’s filled with weeds. He says that some seed fell among the weeds, but the weeds strangled what was sown. The weeds represent worries, distractions, and desires for other things. 

God isn’t the only one trying to plant seeds into your life. The devil likes to plant things too. If you’re struggling with an insatiable desire for more sneakers, that’s the seed of materialism. When you can’t be happy for a friend, that’s the seed of jealousy. The devil loves to plant things like bitterness, insecurity, and lust into our hearts because after that, his job is done — we’ll water those weeds ourselves. 

So much of God’s work gets destroyed by loud distractions and lesser desires. In the same way a weed can crush a seed, worries and distractions can kill your calling. 

Jesus asked, “What does it benefit a person to gain the whole world, but lose their soul?” The best way to protect your soul is to protect your soil. So how do you make sure your heart doesn’t become weed-filled soil? 

Well, for starters, you can’t pull weeds from your feet. You’ve got to get down on your knees and pull them up from the root if you want to make room for something more beautiful to grow. The same is true in our spiritual lives. You won’t get rid of the weeds until you assume the right posture — a posture of prayer and humility. Before good things can be planted, bad things must be uprooted. In order for grace to grow, bitterness must be uprooted, and in order for generosity to grow, selfishness must go. You’ve got to rip up some bad habits and then replace them with good habits. 

You need the right friends to help you spot weeds in your life. You need an eGroup. You need to check your soil daily in the presence of God and ask Him to show you where you’re allowing distractions to crowd out His work in your life. Pulling weeds may look like deleting an app or declaring scripture over your life. 

Nothing will kill weeds faster than God’s Word, so saturate the soil of your heart with His Word today. Ask Him to reveal the weeds in your life, and talk to a trusted friend or eGroup leader for support. Be ruthless when ripping up weeds — your soil (and soul) are worth the work.