Title: Good Soil = Good Character / Topic: Fruitfulness

Today’s Reading: Genesis 20; Genesis 21; Genesis 22; Luke 8

Scripture: Luke 8 (excerpts - good soil accented)
8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown."
When he said this, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
...10 He said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,
" 'though seeing, they may not see;
though hearing, they may not understand.'
11 "This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
...18 Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him."
...21 He replied, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice."

Observation: Jesus speaks quite a bit here about people who actually believe and implement the word, not just hearing it, but putting it into practice. This is a practical definition of "good soil." The seed is good, and has the potential to produce a rich crop, but it cannot produce a crop by itself. It requires receptive, good soil to do that. Notice that even two of the unproductive soils take the seed in and show some results. But they lack the qualities to actually produce a crop. The problem relates to character. The character of the soils is infertile. That is, they don't possess the qualities necessary to sustain the growth of the plant.

Application: How does character affect fruitfulness? I think that character is the foundation of fruitfulness. Jesus says that the "good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart." This speaks of character. And the result is that they "hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop." It is their character, which they have cultivated that enables this process to advance to fruition. Even the fact that they persevere demonstrates some character qualities such as determination, dedication, and consistency.

Bottom line: Character counts. People who compromise in life thinking that it won't affect them later are deceiving themselves and forfeiting their future for some present pleasure. Those who stick to righteousness are laying a foundation for a future harvest that will prove their efforts to be ultimately very worthwhile.

Prayer: Lord, I want to be a man of fruitfulness and I want to help produce fruitful people. Help me to keep cultivating Godly character in my own life and to inspire it in others. I pray for a great harvest.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.