Wednesday, Sept. 25

To listen to the audio version, click here. 

Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.  - Matthew 13:5-6

As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.    - Matthew 13:20-21

And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.  - Luke 8:13

The rocky soil that Jesus is describing in these passages is a metaphor for a shallow heart when it comes to receiving the message of the Gospel.  Jesus says that this kind of person has no depth and no root, and therefore whatever begins to grow in this kind of heart will not last.  I think it is fair to characterize this shallow heart as a kind of spiritual immaturity.  

This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.  Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.  - Ephesians 4:13-14 (NLT)

It is entirely possible (and sadly all too common) to be well into maturity, biologically speaking, and yet also be spiritually very immature.  I believe that one of the marks of a shallow, or immature heart is to desire things from God more than simply desiring God.  

The spiritually immature person does not really want Christ, as much as he/she wants what Christ can given him/her; blessing, healing, prosperity, friendship, hope, etc.  There is nothing at all wrong with wanting the blessings which God promises us in Scripture.  The problem comes when we feel these blessings are late, or lacking, or absent all-together...if our focus has been on the blessings, and not the Blesser, we can quickly become discouraged, and disillusioned with our faith.  

I recall meeting with a man who came to see me to discuss some spiritual issues in his life.  He sat down in my office and began to list all of the disappointments and frustrations he was experiencing; his career had not turned out the way he had hoped, his marriage was struggling and was not at all what he envisioned, he was not close to his kids, his youngest was really struggling emotionally and his oldest had married someone that he did not approve of...the list went on and on...when he had finished listing all of his disappointments, he said looked at me and said, “I guess Christianity is just not working for me anymore.”

Like so many people today who claim to be Christians, this man was basing the validity of his faith, and the faithfulness of God entirely on his circumstances.  In other words he looked at his life and determined that it was not what he had hoped, and he blamed God, and he was ready to walk away from God entirely.  This is what Jesus was talking about when He said that “they withered away” from the heat of the trials of life.

Now, let me say again that there is nothing wrong with clinging to the many promises of God in His Word.  But when the trials of life come (and they will come) the deep and mature heart says, “If I have Christ and only Christ, I need nothing else because I already have more than enough!”

Jeff Frazier