SOWER - the external influence
What are the external influencers in our lives?
We usually read Mark 4 from an internal perspective of the type of soil our Christian lives are grounded in. Is it a stony, thorny or good soil etc, but today let’s look at it from a different angle, in a sense where the soil could be the different external influencers in our lives.
Mark 4 - 3 to 8
“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
There are 4 external influencers mentioned in this passage:
1. Wayside - we maybe externally surrounded by biased people who seem to be good on the outside but on the contrary prepare evil schemes to devour us before we know it. Let us cut off such influence immediately, let us also not let it creep into our lives
2. Stony - we maybe externally surrounded by hard hearted stony people who would not have the heart or time to hear our pains and sorrows. Let us cut off such influence immediately, let us also not let it creep into our lives
3. Thorn’s - we maybe externally surrounded by pricking forces who tend to mean harm in our lives. We may not realize it at the start but such forces never want to see our blessings, instead rejoice in downfalls. Let us cut off such influence immediately, let us also not let it creep into our lives.
4. Good ground - these external influencers are probably the least and handful but the best influencers that we need to sustain around us. Such people help us to grow deep with them and also be our support of strength in times of need. A plant in good soil - it’s roots grow deep within the soil and also provides nutrients to the plant to grow. The same way if we are sure to have such good external influencers around us, it is a two way support to each other in our Christian lives. A sustainable blessing!
So let us revisit our influencers and prune our lives to keep only the good external forces in our lives to maintain a Christian balance.
God Bless! Have a blessed day!