18"Therefore hear the parable of the sower: 19When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. 20But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 23But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."
It is obvious that we are all to strive to be the good ground. But I don't think any of us can claim to be only one type of ground, just as we cannot assume someone else is only one type of ground.
There are times when we also receive the seed by the wayside, that we do not understand the Word. If we do not try to learn the meaning of the Word given to us, then the wicked one will snatch it away from us too. As I am working my way through the Bible, I am finding many things I have a difficult time understanding, though I am learning a lot. I pray for understanding and that the understanding I come to is what God wants me to learn, and not something the wicked one is planting in his attempt to take away the seed God gives me.
And when I learn something exciting and new as I study the Bible, do I have enough root in myself? Yes, I find a lot of joy in what I learn, but do I only share it when my surroundings feel comfortable? Do I hide my feelings when it feels like my words would be rejected by others? Do I start to question my beliefs when times get tough? These are the stony places. This is a trap we all fall into at times.
And what about all the trappings that take away from the gifts God has given us? Even good times can interfere with what we know we should be doing. Have you ever gotten caught up in all the hustle and bustle of the holidays and let it override the awe and wonder of the true meaning of the day? Have you ever overlooked your many blessings around you because your eye was on too many material things either in your possession or just out of your reach? Sure, you know what you ought to be doing but with all this other stuff getting in the way, you just never have time to do what really counts. This is the thorny ground.
But there are also times that we hear the Word and understand it and bear fruit. This is what our focus ought to be. We need to hear the Word and understand it. We need to keep that understanding in the forefront of our heart, in comfortable times and uncomfortable times, in good times and in bad. We need to bear fruit. The amount of fruit does not matter. It will happen if we make of our hearts the good ground.
Yes we all have gone through times when our hearts were each of these types of ground. But we are the cultivators. It is us who makes our heart the type of ground it is. The amount of each type of ground we have is up to us. We can make it whatever we want to. We should all try to cultivate all the corners of our heart so there is no wayside, clear out the stones so the Word can take root, pull out the weeds so the Word does not get choked out, so we have the good ground that is needed, so we too can understand the Word and bear fruit.