Truth in the Dirt: The Parable of the SowerSample

I live in the Texas Hill Country, and the ground beneath me is basically pure rock. I planted some grass recently, against the advice of some local experts, really hoping it would take root. I have put hours and hours of work into that small patch of grass, but it still struggles to stay alive because it’s on stony ground.

It’s hard to grow healthy plants on rocky soil— which is exactly what happens to the seed of truth that falls on the stony ground in the Parable of the Sower.

Jesus says the stony ground is where truth gets abandoned because growth is challenging. And make no mistake, spiritual growth can be really difficult sometimes because change is hard.

Salvation is a free gift. Because we weren’t able to save ourselves from our sins, God did the hard part by giving his Son as a sacrifice. In one sense, salvation is easy because we just receive the forgiveness — there's nothing we do to earn it. As Paul told the Ephesians, it’s by grace we were saved, not by works. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

When we accept the free gift of forgiveness that Jesus gave us, we are justified. In God’s eyes it’s JUST-as-IF-I’D never sinned. It’s a reason to celebrate and rejoice. But justification is just the beginning of his saving work, because he loves you too much to let you stay the same.

Enter: Sanctification — the next stage of our salvation.

Sanctification is the process by which God begins to transform us from the inside out, getting our mind, soul, and body in line with his Spirit living within us. This is the hard part because we all have old sinful patterns, mindsets, and habits that are far short of what God intends for us.

This work of transformation is hard ground to plow. So hard that many choose to abandon it. In the words of G.K. Chesterton, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.” What Jesus asks is hard – if not impossible-- apart from his Spirit giving us the power to do it. Turning the other cheek to those who hurt you is hard. Forgiving those who don’t deserve it is hard. Staying in faith when it seems impossible is hard. Conquering addiction is hard.

When God asks us to surrender all of ourselves —in greater and greater degrees— to him, many get tired and give up. This is the stony ground response. Many settle for partial freedom because the sanctification process involves some suffering.

We naturally run from suffering. But there is some necessary suffering God uses to grow us into who he wants us to be. This is why Paul says, even though it’s hard, we can rejoice in our suffering, knowing it’s part of what God uses to make us into who he knows we can be. Change is hard, but it’s worth the effort.

May we be those who embrace the suffering that comes with sanctification, believing God will use it to make us more into his image. May we be those who choose to push our roots deeper and deeper and grow into all God intends for us to be.

Today, I encourage you to look at the struggles you're facing right now in a different light. What truth is God bringing to light in the middle of this suffering? What if you saw those challenges as God’s gift to strengthen you and cause your roots to go deeper in him? Looking from this perspective, we really can rejoice in suffering!