BY THE ROADSIDE

Jesus once spoke of the roadside in terms of sowing the seed of God’s word. It was a place where the “birds” would eat the seed before it could take root. Later he would go on to translate that part of the parable as meaning the “evil one” or Satan would take away the seed or word before it could be planted in the soil, which is the heart of man.

It is interesting to me how in this parable the seed that comes to the roadside is the one that never even gets a chance to take root. There is the rocky soil and the soil where the weeds or thorns receive the seed. With the rocky soil it is received with joy until some trial kills off the growth. And with the thorny soil it dies from the cares of this life. Finally there is the “good soil” where the seed ends up producing fruit.

This is a familiar parable, but it is the seed by the roadside I want to reflect upon with this posting. For of all the seed mention it is the one that is taken away before it even takes root. The other has some impact on the soil, albeit not necessarily permanently,

The soil by the roadside then is the hearts of those consumed with this life. They are so close to the avenues and pathways of what is thought to be important in this life that the traffic driven by Satan’s lure keeps them too distracted to feel the impact of the seed. They might hear the gospel preached, but it never intrudes upon what is important in their minds. Such is the sad nature of the human heart that can only pump blood and never pump the fluid of real life from a spiritual fount.

And amazingly some who think they are spiritual are really dwelling by the roadside. Oh the know how to say all the words of faith that they need to say to persuade somebody they are Christians. Plus they may even have learned all the rituals and practices to embrace to create the illusion they are believers, but there is never any real spiritual fruit that comes from their beings.

The rocky soil and thorny soil both are such that the word literally dies in them when they are forced to choose between some God of this life and the eternal Lord of all creation. At least when it dies they will normally fade from church activity and return to consume whatever seed works best for them. Some trial, some challenge and that is all of Christianity they need.

But the soil by the roadside, having no feeling or spirituality to begin with and feeling quite comfortable playing faith as a game can continue indefinitely in the house of the Lord. They are the consummate pew sitters and if they manage their game effectively will even gain a reputation as a good and faithful servant of god. All the while in reality their heart is simply indifferent and lacking in faith. They are the pillars of the church in their eyes because of whatever they did. God never is the origin of what they praise.

Sadly too often churches become a dichotomy of such contrasts. There is the good soil, that serves by faith and gives glory to Jesus, the transient rocky and thorny soil who come and go and finally the soil by the roadside that will attend, serve and yet never truly bear the kind of fruit that is seen in heaven. They occupy without life beyond the heart content to have made their “investment” without it ever costing them an ounce of true believe beyond their own abilities and the whole time the deceiving inner voice that rationalizes such involvement says “you’re okay.” Which of course they have to wait until eternity to discover they were listening to the wrong spirit.