The Harvest Heart

We are all different. We come from different backgrounds and experiences in our lives. As a result, these experiences affect our hearts and also affect the way we receive God’s Word.

In the parable of the sower, (Matthew 13:1-23), Jesus uses the field to describe four different kinds of heart conditions and how that changes the way we receive God’s Word. In this parable we can also see what kinds of changes God makes in our heart in order for us to participate in His Kingdom.

The parable of the sower is taken out of the common experiences of Jesus and His listeners. Everyone who lives in a small agricultural community sees how the farmer works and usually has a hand in helping their neighbors with the field work.

As a young pastor in my first full-time church I learned quickly that when it was harvest time everyone was in the field. Our church was in a small town in Oklahoma wheat country. One day a farmer came by my office and asked me if I could drive a wheat truck and work for him during harvest. He said it was expected that I work for someone and that all our church was in the field anyway. That is how I learned about farming. I was no farmer but farming quickly became a common experience for me with that church.

Jesus no doubt had a similar experience as a boy. He grew up in a small town in an agricultural community. Tradition has long held that His family was carpenters. However, there are no major parables from the carpenter’s shop, but there are many from the field.

These parables describe for us spiritual truths about the Kingdom of God in language we can understand. The parable of the sower is important to our understanding of what kind of heart is necessary for us to receive the word of God and begin our relationship with God and His Kingdom. Here is a brief summary of the Parable of the Sower. (I will go into more detail later.)

The Calloused heart is the path that goes through the field. As the farmer sows the grain he carries a bag of seed and throws it out on the tilled soil. Where he walks creates a path. So, since the tilled ground is so important the farmer will always follow the same path so that he does not disturb any more soil than necessary.

The path is easy. The path is the place that has the appearance of being close to the farmer. However, it is too well traveled to take root in the soil.

The path is exposed to the enemy. Since the seed lands on the top of the hard path the birds can see it and take it for food. This soil of the path is not simply shallow. This represents a belief that is disconnected from the tilled soil. It is a faith that is held in the hand, not in the heart. That is where you want your things, not your faith.

The Castaway heart is the pile of rocks around the outside edge of the field. Faith in the rocks is shallow. Desperate people fall prey to shallow emotionalism. DL Moody noticed that people in poverty responded favorably to a message of God’s love. In God’s love there is hope. Emotions are essential to religious experience but cannot be the basis for your religion.

Faith in the rocks is faith on the rocks. Without depth we cannot withstand the storms that follow us in life.

The Cluttered heart is the place along the fence where the weeds grow. Clutter is distracting. You can get lost in the weeds. Clutter is restricting. You can get stuck in the weeds.

The Cultivated Heart is the Christ Centered heart. The cultivated heart is open to receive God’s word the way tilled ground accepts the seeds. The cultivated heart activates growth.

Robin Cowin