Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying:
“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop – a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear.”
Matthew 13:18-23
“Listen to what the parable of the sower means: When someone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who receives the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
Not long ago I walked into my home office and found one of my sons doing his homework. That was a good thing. But he wasn’t just doing his homework. While working on his geometry or whatever he was simultaneously listening to music on his ipod, touching base with friends on Facebook, watching his cell phone for incoming text messages, and had another computer screen minimized so he could occasionally see what was happening on Twitter.
I said something like, “Hey, I’m glad you’re working on homework, but how can you get anything done like that?”
Without a hint of sarcasm, he said, “I get more done this way.”
We live in the age of “multi-tasking.” And most of us think we’ve become pretty good at it. In fact, we take a kind of pride in being able to juggle several tasks simultaneously and live under the illusion that we are getting more accomplished by doing so.
But the truth is that there is a whole body of research beginning to emerge that suggests we’re not as good at “multi-tasking” as we think we are. The evidence is that every time we add a task we don’t actually multiply our effectiveness, rather, we divide our attention. The result is that we for perform each task less efficiently.
I can give you a prime example.
Let’s say I’m watching T.V.; say, oh, something like Monday Night Football. Now say my wife, who is sitting just six feet away from me, says something important like, “The house is on fire,” or, “There’s a wildebeest in the living room.” How do I respond?
I say, “Oh, that’s nice,” or, “That’s fine with me.”
Why do I respond that way? It’s not because I don’t care about the house burning down; it’s not because I don’t love my wife; I really do! It’s because I can’t do two things well at once! My eyes and my ears only work on one frequency at a time.
Jesus suggests something similar may be true of our hearts. He says:
Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.
Here Jesus is comparing our hearts to a portion of a farmers field where all kinds of weeds are growing right along side of the crop the farmer is trying to grow. And, as anyone who has ever tried to grow a garden knows, weeds, if left unchecked, will eventually take over and choke out the tomatoes or cucumbers or whatever you are trying to grow.
I think Jesus is saying that while we can certainly attend to many activities and issues in our lives, our hearts can only have one top priority at a time. Our hearts can only have one Master; one Lord.
Take a few moments sometime today and invite Jesus to walk with you through the field of your heart. Ask him to show you the good things that are growing there; things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control (the “fruit of the Spirit” mentioned in Galatians 5:22). Then ask him to point out where weeds may also be growing; weeds like hurry, impatience, anger, selfishness or temptation; and give him permission to do a little “spiritual weeding” in your heart.
Pastor Brian Coffey
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