马太福音13:1-9 当那一天，耶稣从房子里出来，坐在海边。有许多人到他那里聚集，他只得上船坐下，众人都站在岸上。他用比喻对他们讲许多道理，说：“有一个撒种的出去撒种；撒的时候，有落在路旁的，飞鸟来吃尽了；有落在土浅石头地上的，土既不深，发苗最快， 日头出来一晒，因为没有根，就枯干了； 有落在荆棘里的，荆棘长起来，把它挤住了； 又有落在好土里的，就结实，有一百倍的，有六十倍的，有三十倍的。 有耳可听的，就应当听！”
主耶稣将在本章稍后解释这个比喻，我们将进一步了解他怎样将神的国度和一个播种的农夫列在一起。当你播下福音的种子时，有些会生长，有些则不会。那这对我们意味着什么？这意味着我们应该继续播种，继续播撒大量的种子！
当我还是个孩子的时候，我住在一个农场里，我们感到很开心的是，每英亩土地上能收获80-100蒲式耳(谷物和水果的容量单位)的玉米。我还记得我父亲说过他每英亩种了大约18000粒种子。但是今天的农民每英亩能收获200蒲式耳的玉米。当然，他们使用更多的肥料、除草剂和杀虫剂。但他们获得更多玉米的一个原因是，因为他们每英亩播种了将近4万粒的种子。这个经验对天国的意义是什么呢？那就是我们要播下更多福音的种子。更频繁的教导神的话给更多的人。
今天就把它应用到你自己和你的家人身上。如果你想在你的信心中成长，那么就在你的心中播下更多的种子。努力而勤奋的学习神的话语。早晨读一篇诗篇，午饭时读一章经文，和你的家人共进晚餐时一起学习一些灵修材料。睡前再读读神的话语，给你的孩子们讲一个圣经故事。这听起来是不是太多了? 其实，学习神的话语再多也不过分！
祷告: 亲爱的主耶稣，你的话是我脚前的灯，是我路上的光! 我知道我的罪性总是找借口不愿意去学习你的话语。请赐给我力量能消灭我对你话语的厌恶感。唤醒我的快乐和喜悦，去倾听和学习你的话语。请赐给我勇气，尽我所能的向更多的人宣告福音的好消息，与更多的人分享你的话语。奉主耶稣的名求。阿们。
Matthew 13: 1-8: That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake.2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Jesus will explain this parable a little later in this chapter and we will learn more about the details of his comparison about the kingdom of God and a farmer sowing his seeds. Here’s a take away for today. When you plant the seeds of the gospel, some will grow and some will not. So what does that mean for us? It means we should keep on sowing seeds, lots of them!
When I was a child, I lived on a farm and we were happy to get 80-100 bushels of corn per acre. I also remember my father saying that he planted about 18,000 seeds per acre. Now farmers get over 200 bushels in acre. Of course, they use more fertilizer and herbicides and pesticides. But one reason they get more corn is because they sow close to 40,000 seeds per acre. Lesson for the kingdom? Sow more seeds of the gospel. Teach God’s Word to more people more often.
Apply that today to yourself and to your family. If you want to grow in your faith, then sow more seeds in your heart. Study God’s Word diligently. Read a psalm in the morning. Take a chapter at lunch. Read a devotion with your family at supper. Read God’s Word before you to to bed, and tell your children a Bible story. Does it sound like too much? You can never get too much of the Word!
Prayer: Dear Jesus, your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path! I know my sinful nature will always find an excuse not to study your Word. Give me strength to drown my aversion to your Word. Waken in me a joy and delight to hear and learn it. Give me the courage to proclaim it to as many people as I possibly can. I ask this in your name. Amen.