TREASURE SEED SERIES - 3

And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up. [Matthew 13:4]


"...When he sowed..."

"In the process of sowing…". I should expect varying results from varying degrees while the sowing process is going on. The sowing process ought to be a continuous one. The Lord expects me to be built up into His image, therefore, He gathers some seeds to sow into my life. He wants to sow into every segment of my existence, therefore, He has different seeds for different purposes. Take note that every seed He plans to sow are not of the same shape, size and type, therefore every grain of seeds is very important. They are planted for different assignments, so that they will all germinate and I will be thoroughly furnished in every aspect of divine pruning. In addition, no single seed sown by the Sower (the Master) can replace another, each is singularly important, and all are cohesively needed to make me the man He wants me to be eventually. Also, wherever any of His seeds falls is NOT A MISTAKE, the location where the seed falls is not the issue, the crucial thing is how cultivated are those locations?, how prepared am I to nurture to fruition any kind of seed in any location of my life?

Some seeds may require that the sower will dig very deeply into the earth before such seeds can be planted aright and assured of requisite nutrients for sprouting, but some other seeds only need little or no digging. A novice in whose life much digging has never taken place lacks depth. He cannot be entrusted with spiritual work. Divine work demands that the Lord concentrates on the life that is to bear the work. A life that will bear divine weight must be thoroughly deeply dug and loosened to be able to bear the root (and tree) that he must carry without collapsing. He must be well cooked.

Some seeds take time - weeks or months before they would germinate, but they have to be nurtured and well taken care of, while others would germinate quickly. A prayer life takes time to build, a deep relationship with God is not easy to come by…
Some seeds need to take root downwards first, before bearing fruits upwards... This is a broken and contrite spirit that radiates meekness and submission afterwards.

Some others bear fruits that will not be visible outside to everybody at a glance, but the fruits are downwards, deep in the heart, and only the reflection or the image would be seen outside. This is the spiritual gravity, energy, and beauty that must rest on me which others cannot fathom the source, but only see the grace it produces, and which they jealously covet.


"...seeds fell by the way side, ...fowls"

The “wayside”. The wayside in my life are the regions where the "fowls" can easily reach, the wayside is easily accessible to the fowls. The fowls are not within me, they are without. These parts of my life are so visible from outside, that the fowls can easily notice anytime some goodly treasures (seeds) fall into them. I must be very careful of this wayside, or else, nothing good will get matured there.
The sowing process could be at the time when I'm alone with God, it could be in church meetings, or anytime my heart is available unto God for Him to sow some goodly pearls therein. But there is a very big issue here that confronts me with fear!!! These my "wayside" regions that expose and leak out Divine pearls that cost Christ so much to deposit into me?

The wayside is the WAY to the outSIDE.

Now, is it wrong for some seeds to fall by the wayside? - Maybe not!!!
The goal of the Master is to perfect every aspect of my life, including the WAYSIDE.


WAYSIDE!!!

Some waysides may possess humus soil, they may be cultivated, they may be located in the cool, serene, costly Government Residential Area (GRA), fenced round with watchers or guards around to prevent intruders. Other waysides may be in the path of a flowing stream from which they are constantly watered daily for freshness. Hence, such waysides could still bring forth some reasonable harvests. BUT there are other waysides that are abandoned, the ground is so hard and uncultivated, the locations thereof are byways of robbers and they are very slippery.

The big question then is, "what is my type of wayside?” If Enoch possessed a body, which God did not allow to see corruption, and God just translated Him body, spirit and soul, then, it is possible to have a good, disciplined, and fruitful wayside.

And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not, for God took him. (Genesis 5:22-24)

Reading from verse 8 of Matthew 13:

But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. (Matthew 13:8)


This verse tells us that some seeds fell into "good ground", and therefore brought forth fruits. I am careful to note that the Bible didn't say the seeds fell into a secluded farm. The seeds didn't fall into a quarantined segment, or a prepared farmland, or somewhere designated for planting seeds… Rather, the Scripture clearly declared that the seed simply fell into good ground (and such good ground could be any ground - a farmland, or just another wayside!!!).

If a farmland, or quarantined segment or a designated farm didn't have good ground, but had thorns, briers, hard ground..., no matter how good the seeds were, and no matter which experienced sower planted the seeds, such seeds will never produce fruits.

Hence, by way of contrast, if my wayside could have some good ground, well cultivated, then it's very possible that seeds which fall into such cultivated waysides will be very productive. I will need only a little extra commitment on my part to always watch over that wayside to prevent the fowls that want to graze the field. Surely, this same carefulness and watchfulness that I exhibited over the wayside is the same watchfulness I would also need to exhibit even if the field were a designated farmland and not just a wayside).

So, I’m trying to understand that the wayside is not altogether bad. The wayside is not a place that seed should never drop into. In fact, God expects seeds to fall in there. My duty is just to make sure that every aspect of my life (wayside inclusive) is kept cultivated, fertilized and carefully watched over, so that not a little area of my life becomes unproductive when the Lord does His sowing exercise across the different portions of my life.

Now the BIG QUESTION is what are the WAYSIDES???
Are the waysides altogether bad? - Not at all! I think there is a purpose why the seed fell by the wayside. There is something good that ought to come out of the wayside. If only my wayside could be cultivated, then it will be fruitful.
Jesus Christ Himself threw a big light on this, when He expounded the parable to His disciples in verse 19 when He said "heareth the word... Understandeth it not..."

When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. (Matthew 13:19)

Whoa! This is great!!!

"Heareth the word… and understandeth it not". This is very critical. So the wayside really had to do with 'the word' and the 'hearing of the word'!

• --How much of what I hear do I understand?

• --How much of what I hear, actually benefits my soul?

• --How much of grace available unto me do I utilize?

• --How sweet is the word of God to my tastebuds?

• --The extent to which my Christian life has reached today, what contribution or percentage of it does the Word have/carry out of it all? Am I just a bunch of chaff, thinking I have life within me, while I am a useless void?

• --Am I only trying to OBEY the word of God (dos and don'ts, thou shalls, thou shall nots) but the aspect of LIVING by the word of God, where the Word becomes the breath that I breathe has been completely left out, non-existent or non-understood?


A life of OBEY, OBEY, DOs, DON'Ts is a life lived in perpetual "fear of taking a wrong step". It is a life of perpetual servitude while trying to please a tyrant master. It's a life of bondage to the rudiments of the LAW that is sugar-coated by GRACE - but it's still the law all the-same. I call it the LAW OF GRACE or the BONDAGE OF FREEDOM. Is that the kind of life I am living and I’m boasting of grace? Is the word of God is being read without understanding, or the word has become a police rather than a joy and the strength of my life? Do I find myself living under the perpetual fear of breaking it?

Is the word of God SWEET to my taste, or I have reduced the word of God to just a manual of teleguiding how the Christian life should be lived?