Sticking Points For The Seeker

I’m not a farmer. Neither my wife nor I have a green thumb. I’ve never lived on a farm. I’ve never worked on a farm. We’ve never had a garden. What do I know about cultivating, planting or reaping? Actually, there was that time I took some kernels of corn and planted them in the dirt next to my house in California. I was only eight years old. I don’t think it was a school project. I was just curious. I dug up the dirt, planted the seeds, watered the ground, and watched as real live corn stalks grew over the next few months. Amazing! Even as an eight-year-old, I knew I couldn’t grow corn by placing the corn kernels on our driveway.

When Jesus told His parable about the Four Soils, He was speaking to an audience in an agrarian culture. They understood farming, herding and fishing. This was how they lived. It’s not lost on His audience that the only difference in each situation He described was the quality of the soil in which the seed was planted. Same farmer. Same seed. Different soil. Different results.

Yesterday, you read about the Four Soils.

Hard Path. Rocky Soil. Thorny Soil. Good Soil.

Read Matthew 13:18-23 again.

While the Rocky and Thorny Soils could certainly relate to the believer whose faith is shallow and fails to grow because they are either discouraged or distracted, we could also apply the same challenges to those who show initial interest in the gospel of Jesus Christ but eventually get hung up by pain or difficulty they are facing or by worldly pursuits of pleasure and power.

Jesus described those whose hearts were the Rocky Soil this way:

“…since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted…”

One of the common objections non-believers have to putting their faith in Christ is, “If God is so loving, how could He allow such bad things to happen?” Sometimes, this is an intellectual objection, but more often, it is an emotional objection. It comes from a place of deep pain.

What are some emotional roadblocks to the faith that you have come across? Jesus described those whose hearts were the Thorny Soil this way:

“…quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth…”

One of the common roadblocks for non-believers placing their faith in Christ is their pride. They are self-sufficient. They don’t need God. They are consumed with pursuing their own personal agenda and making it on their own.

What have you observed to be some of the common pursuits that prevent people from placing their faith in Christ? Jesus described those whose hearts were the Hard Path this way:

“…those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts.”

One of the common roadblocks for non-believers placing their faith in Christ is a lack of understanding. Maybe they have heard the gospel, but they don’t understand it. Maybe they have heard an incomplete gospel, and it doesn’t make sense. Maybe they have heard the gospel, but they still have many questions.

The greatest roadblock of all is SIN! Many spiritually lost people don’t want to put their faith in Christ because they don’t want to give up their sin. They are not seeking God. Their heart is hard.