Mark 4:20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.  These devotions could just as easily be titled… the parable of the soil.
It is the soil that makes the difference!  Looking now, at the last two types of soil, we find the soil where the thorns have taken hold.  Jesus likens this life to a life full of cares, focusing only on the temporal and not the eternal.  Is there something that is choking the spiritual life out of you?  The last of the four examples is when the seed falls on good ground.  Have you ever noticed the difference in the good ground?  It is easily tilled.  It is rich in nutrients.  It brings forth abundantly!  That is the heart the Lord is looking for.  A heart that will receive His word, obey His word, and share His word with others.  We are instructed to be doers of the word, not just hearers only!  Mary told the servants at the wedding at Cana, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it!  I am thankful there is a God in Heaven that can break up the fallow ground in our hearts, preparing the soil to receive the engrafted, eternal seed we call the Word of God!  Amen. Pastor