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Sunday, April 22, 2012

The Parable of the Sower

"The disciples came to him and asked, 'Why do you speak to the people in parables?'  He replied, 'The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.  Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.  Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.  This is why I speak to them in parables:
  Though seeing, they do not see;
  though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
     You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
     you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
     For this people's heart has become calloused;
     they hardly hear with their ears, and they have
     closed their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with
     their eyes, hear with their ears,understand with their
     hearts and turn, and I would heal them.
But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.' "  Matthew 13:10-16

Today is the first of a 5 part series on the "Parable of the Sower."  Today I want to talk about parables - What exactly is a parable?
This is taken from "The Eerdmans Bible Commentary":  "A parable was a story to illustrate a spiritual or moral truth.  It was different from an allegory where every detail had to be decoded."
and also "Parables are a pictorial method of evangelism."  I have always loved all of the parables that Jesus told - I am a visual person and parables really work for me - they help me understand God's Word.

The spiritual or moral truth in this Parable - "The Parable of the Sower" is about faith & unbelief.  It's about sharing our faith with others and dealing with the trials and tribulations that come along with that.  We are all part of God's Growing Garden and the types of seeds that we are planting in His garden are:  Grace, Mercy and forgiveness. 

There is an added responsibility for those who understand - we must share this knowledge & understanding with everyone! ("But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear").  Let's try to share God's love with everyone that we meet.

2 comments:

  1. The parable of the sower is my favorite parable because of the deep meaning. I agree 100% that we have an obligation to share what we come to understand. How we share it is up to us and how we feel led of the Lord.

    Thank you for sharing this lesson. I have a question. Will you give me a link to read about how your themed blog and shop hop works? Thanks.

    I write Christian articles and publish them here: ChristianArticles.net http://www.christianarticles.net/authordetail.php?autid=3470. I'm Sandra Johnson, The Handmaid of the Lord.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Sandi & thank you for stopping by my blog.
      I have bookmarked your website & I look forward to reading more of your articles.
      I have a themed "blog hop" once a month - this is the link to April's blog hop which was 1 week ago: http://godsgrowinggarden.blogspot.com/2012/04/themed-blog-shop-hop-april.html
      Thanks again
      God bless!
      Angie

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Thank You.