For You From The Word
(The) good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. (Matthew 13:23, NIV)
For You To Think About
Third in a series of renewing your passion for the cause of life
As spring temperatures thaw the ground, you can see freshly-tilled plots where last year’s brown stalks hovered. Hard, unprepared soil does not produce good garden crops. But well-cultivated, fertilized soil does.
Just as the soil in your garden needs to be cultivated each season, so does your heart as you serve others in the cause of life.
Tilling soil is hard work, whether you use a plow, a hand tiller, or a spade. Not only do you turn the soil, but also haul compost and add other soil amendments to enrich the garden. The additions are worked into the soil and clods are broken in order to prepare the bed and make it as healthy as possible for plants and seeds.
Perhaps over time parts of your heart may have hardened and compacted, especially if you’ve experienced resistance to pro-life values. God’s word can take away your “stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart” (Ezekiel 11:19, NLT).
Or past seasons of service may have drained you. The soil of your heart continues to produce, but with less abundance than before. If so, your heart needs to be fortified with truth from God’s word.
Like tilling the soil, cultivating your heart is hard work – whether you’re turning a hard heart to soft a soft one or adding nutrients to make it deeper and richer.
Yet when enriched by the truth of God’s word, a healthy heart produces passionate service in the cause of life – always in increasing proportions.
As you serve, take time to cultivate your heart, renewing it in God’s Word.
For You To Pray
Heavenly Father,
Thank You giving me Your Word, which cultivates my heart and fortifies me to serve the cause of life. Break up any hard areas in my soul. Fill me with Your strength and truth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
More about Renewal
Renewal for the Cause of Life, Part 1: Clean Out