Readings for today: Mark 3-4, Psalms 96
Several years ago, I met an amazing man in the Horn of Africa. His name is Taban. He is a farmer who developed a system (F.A.I.T.H. Gardens = Food Always In The Home) to provide food security and sustainability in a region afflicted by starvation and malnutrition. He plants maize and onions and eggplant and sweet potatoes and a host of other vegetables to replace the cassava plants distributed by the United Nations. He recognizes when cassava isn’t cooked to the right standards, it can become toxic and slowly poison his people. He spends his days tearing out cassava by the roots and offering a much healthier, more diverse menu of options that provide not only food for a household but also an income as they take it to market. He’s one of my many heroes.
I thought about Taban when I read through our passage for today. Here Jesus talks a LOT about seeds and sowing and farming and harvesting. He talks about what happens to seed when it is cast on the hard path or rocky soil or among the weeds or planted in good soil. He likens it to what happens when we preach the gospel and it falls on the hearts of people. Some hearts are hard. Some are rocky and it’s tough to grow deep roots. Some are full of weeds that choke out its life. Some hearts are open and ready to receive. What Jesus is doing here is providing a diagnostic for each individual Christian to discern the condition of their own heart. After all, I am in charge of my own soil. No one else is responsible for the condition of my heart. At the same time, my heart is definitely shaped by the community I surround myself with and the schedule I keep and the pace of life I set. If I set an unhealthy pace, my heart will reflect that unhealthy condition and the soil will not be conducive for spiritual growth.
When Taban trains our church planters in sustainable farming techniques, he often talks about the condition of the soil. He researches which crops have the best chance to thrive in which soil. He pays attention to average rainfall and offers suggestions for how to find the best soil possible to give them the best chance for success. Of course, each church planter has to decide what they will do with the information they are given just as each person has to decide what they will do with the gospel they are given. So what have you done? How do you intentionally till the soil of your own heart so it is open to receive the good news? What spiritual practices do you engage in to create healthy and good soil for the seeds of the gospel?
Readings for tomorrow: Mark 5-6, Psalms 97 (No devotionals on Sundays)