As we will see, the depth of soil increases as the parable progresses.
The Sower throws more seed, and some fell among rocks and stones. The place wasn’t hard like the path, but the soil was shallow. The seed had enough depth to find purchase, but since the soil wasn’t very deep, the only direction the plant can go is up.
Which seems like a good thing, but it’s not.
Shallow soil means that there is nowhere for the roots to go. And the foundation of a plant is the root. A plant can only go as high as the roots allow. And a plant with a shallow root system is vulnerable.
Often the Gospel is preached, but it is a shallow thing. It is an emotional plea. Or perhaps it is received that way, and the spiritual work isn’t deep. However, these people seem to “grow” quickly, speak amazing statements of commitment and faith. We celebrate these converts as proof our ministry is amazing.
But then they fall away. Or they disappear. And we are left to wonder why.
But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.
At some point, Christianity is expressed or perceived as a fun house where everything will work out the way you want it to. Churches or ministries may not express this in so many words … or they actually may.
And then the hard times hit. Sometimes, the events are heartbreaking and tragic. Our expectations of God are shattered, as if following Him excuses us from these things. Without the deep foundation of true faith, a faith founded on high emotion is destroyed by other emotions. Pain. Wounds. Hurt.
People feel like they were swindled by a faith that promised something it didn’t deliver. And so out of bitterness and disappointment, they leave. They’re gone. They quit.
The Apostle Peter was once like this.
This is the man that so famously said, “I’ll go wherever you go and die with you!”
And just a few hours later, Peter had denied Jesus three times.
Why? His expectations of what it meant to “win” with God were shattered. “Winning” at that time meant the execution of the Son of God, the death of Jesus on the cross – foolishness to the Greeks (philosophers) and a stumbling block to the Jews (the religious).
He quit. He was done.
I don’t want to minimize pain or hurt, as if it does not matter. It does. It is real, and many times valid. God does not minimize the pain or hurt, either. He validates and weeps with us in the midst of it. And since he lived as a man in this world, he understands everything we struggle with, everything we go through. There is no greater High Priest. But the pain is real.
Only a faith that has dug deep roots, sought God in deep places, unseen places, will survive the trials of this life. If you have walked with the Lord for any length of time, then you know the reality of saying, “I didn’t sign up for this. I don’t know if I can go on with this whole Christianity thing.”
A man who walked with the Son of God dealt with this in the extreme – the rest of the disciples also dealt with it.
There is no condemnation for the struggle, even for falling into the “quit,” as Peter did. There is hope, if we are willing to turn back to Jesus, to humble ourselves again and be commissioned again. Our faith must sink deep into Him like roots, deeper than the surface, deeper than our emotions or our situation. It must become an eternal thing, rooted in the unseen Kingdom that cannot be shaken.
You see, the Kingdom is the only thing that cannot be shaken, as the writer of Hebrews tells us. It is secure, solid, and unmovable. Everything that can be shaken, will be shaken. We must make sure that our foundation is in the eternal King and His rule and reign, which is now and forevermore. This gives us hope and motivation, comfort in those difficult times, which we are promised will happen! But thank God, we are also promised a Comforter, a Counselor, the very presence of our Father in the Spirit.
The Kingdom teaches us that there is another way, there is another reality beyond what we currently see with our eyes. It is a Kingdom rooted in Heaven, not of this world, and so we can be secure that our inheritance is there.
Peace.
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