Shallow soil: “Other seeds fell on the shallow soil with underlying rock. The
plants sprang up quickly.” (Matthew
13:5)
Why do these seeds grow into little plants so
quickly, unlike the seeds on the footpath? In this ground, there’s at least
enough cultivated soil for the seeds to sink in and their roots can begin to
receive some nourishment. The truth is, most people don’t want to lead shallow
lives and be seen as superficial. When they’re really honest, they recognize
that there is more to life than just money, jobs, clothes, and the multitude of
things society seems obsessed with.
Perhaps around New Year’s Day we make a
resolution to pay more attention to the spiritual side of life, the heart
stuff, go deeper than normal. We buy an inspirational book and decide to carve
out of our busy schedules some regular time for reflection and meditation. We
read. We think. We contemplate. And we like the experience. We get excited
about what we start feeling and how being more centered impacts our lives. We
feel better about ourselves. We seem to have more peace. We don’t get as
anxious or upset with the little things as before. Life feels better and more
balanced.
“But the plants soon wilted beneath the hot sun
and died because the roots had no nourishment in the shallow soil.” (Matthew
13:6) As it turns out, this particular soil was
shallow because there was a thick layer of bedrock not too far below the
surface. What little soil was there was good and provided just enough depth for
the seeds to take root and sprout. But because rock was just underneath, the
roots couldn’t go deep enough to receive adequate nourishment. So when the
external conditions got challenging (like the burning hot sun), the seedling
couldn’t stand the heat and withered and died.
A person tells of a year in which she made a
resolution to bicycle every day first thing in the morning. She had a good
bike. She even recruited a partner to go with her so she had the support to
keep it up even on mornings when she didn’t feel like it. She was faithful with
that resolution. She was proud of herself. Every morning she was up early,
working hard. She started feeling better. She got excited about her progress.
And it was fun! But then she hit the
“rock.” The fun factor dramatically diminished. She began to hate getting up
early. When that alarm went off she wanted nothing more than to simply turn
over and go back to sleep. She began dreading the pain from pushing her lungs,
heart and muscles to their limits. The initial excitement was gone. Now it was
just hard work! She had hit the “bedrock” of difficulty.
Isn’t it true that many of our resolutions get
derailed when they become difficult to keep doing? The emotionalism of initial
excitement wears off in time. If decisions are based purely upon a momentary
“high,” they never last. The time in between whatever it is we resolved to do
daily or weekly gets longer and longer. As a result, we often give up
altogether. Soon, we’re back to our normal lives. We’ve failed again. And with
each failure, it gets increasingly difficult to make more resolutions because
we simply don’t want to keep failing.
So our good intention of spending quality time
deepening our lives, developing meaningful spirituality, often goes by the
wayside when it gets difficult to keep doing it. Consequently, we never end up
developing real depth in our lives. We stay on the surface, keeping extremely
busy, doing the urgent things in our lives, following our significant routines,
but maintaining only a superficial reality.
Then something happens; a crisis of some kind
strikes. The storm winds blow … a marriage goes sour, a job is lost, a medical
diagnosis is lethal, a friend betrays us. And we suddenly realize we don’t have
the depth we need, the inner resources necessary to handle it well. We fold,
cave, give up. We never get to the place of being able to enjoy fruitfulness
and fulfillment that come from real depth that produces long-term commitment.
The “hot sun” has withered the plant and it dies.
“No mere theory of truth or profession of
discipleship will save any soul. We do not belong to Christ unless we are His
wholly. It is by half-heartedness in the Christian life that men become feeble
in purpose and changeable in desire. The effort to serve both self and Christ
makes one a stony-ground hearer, and he will not endure when the test comes
upon him.” (White 1941, p. 50.)
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