Good Ground
“And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.” – Mark 4:8
“And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.” – Mark 4:8
Often during my growing up years, I heard my father tell how he received the news of the Gospel through some church literature. God had designed a plan in which a man who had been to Portland, Oregon, tucked some Gospel tracts in his suitcase, never knowing that my father would be the one who would benefit from them. My father had a friend at work who knew the gentleman from Portland. That friend told him that my father was living a defeated life and that maybe the tracts would show him a way out of a life of sin. It worked. Shortly after receiving the tracts, my father began to pray in his own home, and the Lord saved him. Later, my mother was also converted through the instruction given in the literature.
After our family moved to Oregon, we invited several people to go to church with us. One evening, a gentleman did go with us. The next day, I was walking by a trash barrel and saw that he was burning something. I looked in the barrel and to my amazement, I saw that he was burning the church literature he had received the night before. I was seven years old at the time and I thought to myself, He does not appreciate the tracts the way my father does. Over the years, I have learned to appreciate the fact that my father had received the Word on good ground, and it brought forth fruit.
After seeing the impact of the Gospel message on my parents’ lives, it was impressed upon me that God was using the Gospel tracts as a powerful tool to spread the good seed of His Word. However, I also realized that the seed, by itself, will not change someone’s life. It must be planted in good ground if it is to take root, for without good ground, even good seed cannot survive.
The truth of God’s Word is just as powerful today as it was when my father received it and his life was changed in a moment of time. Our part is to make our hearts the good ground needed for the seed to take root. Then, the Word will bear fruit and increase in our hearts unto eternal life.