Heart Soul Mind Strength

encouragement for us

When I was five years old, I attended my first Big A Club at our apartment complex in Corpus Christi, Texas. Taught by Mrs. Alice Smith who discipled and mentored my Momma in teaching Bible lessons that brought into my awareness, along with many other children, the life-giving Truth of the gospel.

As a youth, I participated in the same type of teaching Bible clubs for children, leading younger children in memorizing Bible verses in the Awana Bible memorization club, and working as a dental assistant with my Dad on missions trips across the border. I felt inwardly how vital it was for me to continue to share with others the gospel that had reached to me all the way through many Believers from that mountainside in Galilee where Jesus gave the Great Commission. I felt connected to those who have gone before, suffered, and died bringing bearing that fruit from the Root of the Vine, which is Jesus.

When Jesus taught the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13: 1-9, his disciples did not really understand, but they wanted to. He goes on to explain it in greater detail.

As we go out to sow, to share the gospel of salvation through faith upon the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we may tend to think very optimistically. We may expect sunshine, perfect amounts of rain, and results bursting with life and fruit at every turn. The process doesn’t always go the way we think it will. It often requires more patience than we had planned for, and the process walks us through learning to love like Jesus did. Jesus’ explanation in Matthew 13: 18-23 prepared us for reality:

“18 “Therefore hear the parable of the Sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. 

20 But he who received the seeds on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

I notice that the common element among these soil types is that they all hear the word, which is the only way for them to end up bearing fruit as part of the kingdom of God according to Romans 10:17 “so then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (NKJV).”

There is the fruit of souls saved at the point of believing on the Son to the glory of God the Father, and afterwards the fruit of the Spirit growing in us after we have been secured by Him. This fruit brings about love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in our lives.

I feel like I was originally more like the unfruitful soil because I heard the gospel over and over. In the very beginning, I didn’t understand it; however, I did trust my parents who taught it to me. My initial “Yes” to believing in Jesus was based on the deep trust I had in my parents who testified to me of salvation through faith by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

When I was a little older, I was very enthusiastic about what I understood about God. I even took a stand in first grade against methods of holiday celebrations that I understood to belong to people who did not believe the Word of God. For example, I refused to carve a Jack-o-lantern in first grade and also refused to believe in Santa Clause. In my mind, those traditions didn’t fit into the life of someone dedicated to the Kingdom of God. In sixth grade, I refused to agree with the theory of evolution by phrasing my answers to test questions like this: “the book says such and such” instead of agreeing with the theory that everything evolved from nothing. I also spent considerable time in fourth and sixth grade memorizing my Awana memory verses between assignments. However, these early exercises of living out what I believe about God were all under the protection, supervision, and encouragement of my family and church.

My true testing came after a journey that I see now as an effort made by the strength of my own flesh based on my knowledge of the Truth. This is a point I want to share for the sake of other children who trust Jesus from early and come to know for sure that what God says is true. I relied too much on my knowledge and my efforts to live in a way that makes sense based on true teaching. I was trying to be justified by keeping the Law, strengthened by knowing about Jesus.

Even when fully convinced in my mind about the Truth, I was still a sinner by nature whose heart needed to be transformed by the Person of Jesus Christ. Nothing I do correctly can be accredited to me as righteousness by the Law – ever. Galatians 2:20 says it best: ” I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (KJV).” I am unable to please God apart from the Holy Spirit actually living through me the life God wants me to live.

I’m convinced now that God’s first concern is changing my heart attitude through His wise parenting of me, which will allow all the Life and Light of Him inside me to accomplish His desires in me and to those around me. So instead of anxiously tracking and measuring myself against the keeping of the law, I am to daily hold up my empty hands to God and keep my gaze on Him. Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing while He walked among us (John 5:19.) Oh what Grace! Oh what Peace! To have in me the heart and mind of Jesus and the relationship He demonstrated with the Father and the love He felt for the Holy Spirit!

We don’t start out by analyzing the whole process and getting there as efficiently as possible like machines. We start by simply trusting Jesus and doing what He said. As we go, He is there with us. He teaches us. He’s not just interested in our measurable success, but in the transformation of our inner self from selfish, self-centered to self-giving and focusing on God and others. Losing ourselves, our rights, our success in the promotion of others and in the desire to see good for our enemies, our neighbors, and our God.

He grows in us the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which gives us that peace that Jesus had. He had no internal conflict within Himself and no guilt for a rift between Himself and God. When our sin was placed on His account, He laid down His life and cried out “My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken me (Matthew 27:46)!?” But this separation was the willing outworking of LOVE upon which our hope of reconciliation with God is based.

One of the reasons I grew up in an environment that prepared my heart to hear and understand the gospel was because Momma was convinced that children are always good ground to plant the seed of the gospel of Jesus Christ into. Hopefully, life hasn’t trampled them flat and hard like a foot path or filled their world with rocky uncertainty or tricked their hearts with the deceitfulness of worldly cares as children. Unfortunately, many children do experience trauma early in life; however, it is always a good investment to go ahead and preach the gospel out of obedience to Scripture “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (NKJV)” Mark 16:15. God is the orchestrator of the salvation of the world, and we cannot possibly know from our vantage point how it will turn out. “In the morning sow your seed, And in the evening do not withhold your hand; For you do not know which will prosper, Either this or that, Or whether both alike will be good (NKJV)” Ecclesiastes 11: 6.

God already sees the ending from the beginning. He knows how it will turn out each time we share the gospel, dive into discussion of the Word of God, and pass along the teachings of Jesus Christ. We should not be discouraged in our obedience, hope, or peace if the Word gets snatched away from the hearers we know. If people immediately respond in excitement and joy, but then soon fall away, Jesus knew this would happen. If people receive the gospel and begin to show growth, but then go away sad like the rich young ruler because they have so much invested in the temporary world that they don’t want to let it go for the eternal. Jesus knew that this would happen.

Jesus knew that I would end up on a road heading away from the bridge He built by His grace. I headed towards the keeping of the Law and working hard “for God.” Trying to work out my own salvation by doing what I thought I should do to end up accomplishing His will. I carried a prideful burden of doing it all myself.

My temptation was thinking too highly of myself, and my sin was trying to do God’s work in my strength. The more I knew about things that true disciples of Jesus did in history, the more pressure I gathered upon myself to do that too. I became unsure of my place in relationship to God because I couldn’t do the works that Jesus said would follow those who believe (Mark 16:17).” I worked myself quickly to the end of my strength. Sin leads to death. I found myself in despair, feeling hopeless, and casting about for something to hold onto. In my despair, God in His grace set me free from the sin that had me bound up. Using His Word long hidden in my heart, He began to cut away anxiety and fear brambles that had found a place in my heart. For some years I had become dull of hearing His voice and blinded to His obvious LOVE. He’s still remodeling my heart and mind steadily with daily infusions of Scripture and reminders of His faithfulness. He is the Author and Finisher of my faith and the Master builder of His kingdom. I’m just grateful to be here in His garden and to know He will do it.

God’s perspective is long term. He is at work in the world even now. “the word of our God shall stand forever (KJV)” Isaiah 40:8.