Galatians 1:6
“I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel”.
The Galatians were being deceived. This is an age old practice of the enemy. Adam and Eve were the first human victims. Satan twisted God’s Words and ensnared them to think that God was withholding good things. When in reality, we weren’t supposed to have the knowledge of good and evil. It immediately produced shame in them.
We are also susceptible to falling away. In the parable of the sower, Jesus refers to how the Word of God fails to develop in the human heart. Three fourths of the seeds failed. One is choked off from worry, another is destroyed from life’s difficulties and a third is stolen from the devil (Matthew 13).
The first failure of the growth of God’s Word is worry. We all encounter worrisome situations. Worrying is the enemy of faith. The Lord wants to use these situations to develop faith in us. Peter says to “cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.” While worry easily floods our minds, we need to continue to ask for help and trust that He’ll work these situations out for the best. It’s up to us if we will rest in faith or wrestle in worry.
The second cause for the failure of God’s Word is persecution due to it. This person first received it with joy, but there weren’t deep roots, so when persecution arose, it withered. Our culture ridicules those of faith. It’s done in movies, in the university classroom, in the public debates, and so on. Many fall away due to this.
The third failure of God’s Word is when one doesn’t understand it. There isn’t the good soil for it to take root, so the devil plucks it up and steels it. We as believers should help others with answers to their misunderstandings. The devil made God look bad to Adam and Eve, our culture attempts to make Him appear austere and harsh, prudish and unscientific. These cause people to stumble. Simple answers can clear up their misunderstandings.
Any of our hearts can fall prey to the three bad soils. Worry, embarrassment of God and misunderstandings all are encountered occasionally. We need to keep us the christian disciplines to inform ourselves: reading the bible, going to church, sharing our faith and serving. All of these illuminate us to our wrong thinking. Thus making our hearts the good soil which is hospitable to His Word.
Lord, illuminate our thoughts with Your truth. Allow our hearts to be the good soil, not averse to Your Words.