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AN HONEST AND GOOD HEART (I)
THURSDAY, MAY 27
Luke 8:4-18

Matthew 13:18-23

 

“…then cometh the devil,
and taketh away the word

out of their hearts…”

 

AN HONEST AND GOOD HEART (I)
 
The parable of the sower (found also in Matthew 13 and Mark 4) has to do with different responses to God’s Word. The parable is presented as occasioned by the gathering of “much people” who came to Jesus “out of every city” (Luke 8:4), and presents the important truth that not all who hear the Word of God hear in the same way, come to the same conclusion, or manifest the same result. We are called to examine ourselves and “take heed… how [we] hear” (v 18); to make sure that we hear the Word “in an honest and good heart” (v 15). What would such a heart be like? Following the structure of the parable, it will be helpful for us to begin by considering what it is not, and then what it is.
 
In the first place, an “honest and good heart” is not like the way side (v 12). This is where in the parable some of the seed fell, and “was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it” (v 5). Jesus explains, “Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved” (v 12). The description is of those who do not believe at all: they hear, but do not appropriate it for themselves. It remains like the seed on the hard ground, sitting on the surface of the heart (as it were), easily taken away. And this indeed the devil does, by his various devices, for his aim is to prevent belief and salvation.
 
It may be asked, if it is the devil who “taketh away the word out of their  hearts” (v 12), how is this the fault of the one who hears? Yet it is precisely the condition of the heart that permits the word to be taken away. This hearer “heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not” (Matt 13:19) ‒ there is no spiritual understanding, appreciation, or reception of God’s Word. It is indeed “the word of God” (Luke 8:11); there is no deficiency in the word itself. But it is snatched away, because the heart was hardened, and not prepared to receive it.
 
Dear reader, it is the “minds of them which believe not” that are “blinded” by the devil (2 Cor 4:4). Yet the “light of the glorious gospel of Christ”  shines out, if only they are willing to see it!
 
THOUGHT: Is my heart hardened to the Word of God?

PRAYER: O Father, soften my heart to hear and understand Thy Word.

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