February 14 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Mark 4:1–9

Devotional

A farmer went out to sow and some of the seed fell among thorns. In thorny soil the seed germinates and grows up together with the thorns. But the thorns eventually stifle the growth of the seed. The thorny shrubs are high and their roots are deep; and, therefore, the seed does not have enough room to grow. Neither does the seed receive sufficient moisture or sunlight. When the time of harvest arrives, the plants bear no fruit.

This is an illustration of people who hear the Word of God, accept it, and allow its truths to take root in their lives. However, they fail to produce fruit. The Word of God does not break deeply into their lives. Their commitment to follow God is not genuine and solid enough for them to allow God’s Word to expose their sin. There is no sorrow over their condition, no subsequent change in their life, and no real joy in the Lord. What hinders spiritual growth? Christ gives the answer: “The cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.”

People who live in the thorny shrubs have more love for the world and for self than they have for God. Their old nature always has the upper hand. Be warned that the heavenly Husbandman will pull out the thorny shrubs together with these immature plants and cast them into the fire.

Reader, how is your spiritual life? What fruit is present in your life? What growth is there? Are you a pilgrim, a stranger on the earth? Do you love God? Do you love His attributes, including the attribute of His justice? True faith will bring forth fruit. Examine yourself for fruit in your life, for a changed life that reflects your spiritual transformation.

You may knowingly accuse yourself, saying: “Thou art the man! I fear that with me the seed has fallen among thorns.” It is precisely a true Christian who will examine himself. A child of God is afraid of self-deceit. The man who honestly looks at his heart will indeed see hardness within and an attraction to the world’s pleasures. Looking inward can cause a man to tremble. Only the nominal Christian will live peacefully in a false rest. He shuns self-examination. But let none of us be too great to fall upon his knees with the prayer: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps. 139:23, 24).

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.