TREASURE SEED SERIES - 4

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


We started with the parable of the sower by looking at the WAYSIDE. We carefully noted that the Wayside is not bad at all, it is in fact, one of the regions of my life, where Jesus, the Sower, allows His word to fall. Since the wayside of my life is the closest way to the distractions of the outside world, where the fowls can easily reach, it is therefore, my responsibility to keep my wayside cultivated and well secured, so that divine treasures (seeds) deposited therein will remain viable, and bring forth a fruitful harvest.

As the seed of the word of God is deposited into me, what is the level of my receptivity?

•-- 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?

•-- Do I enjoy the Word of God as I enjoy salad and gizzard?

•-- The word of The Lord is FOOD - no doubt, but a deeper understanding comes to me here:

a) FOOD is a necessity for living or for STAYING ALIVE, and without eating food for sometime, a man will simply die.

b) FOOD is very much necessary for HEALTH. A balanced diet keeps sicknesses and diseases away. Good food always keeps you fresh and vibrant.

c) FOOD is also very much necessary for GROWTH. Stunted growth is closely linked to poor dieting and malnutrition, hence proper feeding ensures balanced all round body growth.

Now, the broad reason why we eat food is hopefully stated as written in points (a), (b) and (c) above - i.e. to stay alive, to stay healthy and to grow. BUT a young man who sits at a table of Rice and Fried Gizzard for lunch, with a cold bottle of apple juice to match, does he ever have at the back of his mind any of the reasons stated in a, b or c above as his reason for eating his lunch? Did he grab the plate of food because if he didn't eat, he will soon die? Was he eating his lunch because he is afraid that if he didn't eat, sicknesses and diseases will catch up with him, so he quickly ate voraciously to keep sicknesses at bay? When I sat at the dinning table to eat my delicious dinner after a hectic day of work, was I eating because I was afraid that If I didn't eat I will have kwashiorkor, therefore, I quickly devoured the food because I wanted to grow properly? I don't think so, nobody ever eats food (especially when the food is available and you're not starving) as a necessity or as a duty just to put body and soul together, or to satisfy a, b or c above, rather, we eat:

i.- to enjoy the food, we even pick certain foods as favorites

ii.- to be satisfied and refreshed,

iii.- because we are hungry and need strength,

iv.- because we love certain food choices and have made them our favorites. We have developed a passion for it, a love, an earnest desire that we could even struggle for it or fight others if we are deprived of it.

v.- We eat every time continuously, and never get tired of eating, even after several years, it has become a spontaneous lifestyle.

vi.- Because food even has become the focal point of any gathering, ceremony, it has become the yardstick for judging the success or failure of any gathering. There is a kind of satisfaction that the presence of food brings. Even when we are not hungry, food has a tone of happiness, joy, completeness or feeling good about it, people just love to be around food, or for food to be around them.


So then, in the same vein, if the word of God is FOOD, how do I approach it? Do I approach God's word in the light of i, ii, iii, iv, v and vi , or in the light of a, b and c above?, Is God’s word seen as my favorite food, to be enjoyed, to refresh me, to be satisfied thereby, to love, to be incomplete without? Do I read the Bible because I am loving it? Do I search the scriptures because my soul is longing for the living bread of heaven, because my heart is passionate to be drawn closer to Jesus? Is the word of God my earnest desire, a refreshment, a joy, a source of daily strength? Is the word of God so sweet unto me that I would rather have it than any other thing in replacement? OR have I been taking the word of God in its broad sense of a, b and c aforementioned? have I REDUCED it to just a necessity, a duty — to stay alive (to remain a Christian), - to be healthy and free from diseases and satanic afflictions, - to grow in faith and become a powerful man of God… all those are great, but if that is your lifestyle, it is an indication that you have simply received the seed by the wayside, though the word may be coming to you, but the right understanding that the word demands is not what you give it. It's just not good enough.

“Understandeth thou what thou readest?”

Of course you need food to stay alive. But I discover that if a man has to eat food for the very purpose of staying alive, check it very well, that man is battling with some terrible sicknesses. Perhaps he is bedridden on a sick bed, and the Doctor has pronounced a doubtful state of health over him and made comments of probability as regards his survival. Therefore, friends and relatives are compelling him to eat, so that he could stay alive a little longer and not die. No healthy man eats to stay alive, you simply eat because your appetite is calling for it or you are hungry for it.

Have you seen a man who is eating because he needs to grow? He is taking food supplements because of some depletions in his system? Check it very well, he is being compelled by situation to do that, and never because he is loving it.

If I read my Bible simply because I need the Bible to grow, or because it is compulsory for Christians to always read the Bible and live by the word. If I search Scriptures because I want to overcome the enemy and satanic influences and afflictions. If I read Bible because I don't want to backslide and die as a sinner, then I have received the treasured seed (the word) by my uncultivated wayside, there is a great possibility that a few days, a few weeks, or a few months down the line, I will regrettably tire out, I will skip my communion with Jesus under flimsy excuses, I will postpone my fellowship with Jesus till a more opportune time, because I have only done all the reading and study as a matter of duty, and NOT because I have been enjoying it. I will find myself reading Bible many times just to silence my conscience, or just to give an answer and boast to whoever may request of me of my current standing with God. Reading Bible will soon become a necessity, a burden, a duty I will only perform because of repercussions that will come in case I become unfaithful.

Until the word of God becomes my precious treasure. Until the Bible becomes sweet to my taste, I will always hear and never understand, the fowls will always devour the pearls of great treasures sown into my life, my wayside will never become cultivated, but always neglected, and I will never become that man whom the Lord wants me to be.


And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? [Acts 8:30]


Ooh, the enemy has cheated me so much!!! The question posed to my soul right now is "understandest thou what thou readest? A bigger question even is "Do you even EAT the Bible at all, let alone understanding it?"

Samuel served for days, weeks, months, maybe years at the temple of The Lord, yet, the WORD of The Lord was Not yet REVEALED unto him (1Sam 3:1,7)