Matters of the Heart

On Saturday I went to a Ladies Retreat with my mom at her church (the church I grew up in). The guest speaker was a woman who grew up in little ol' Elloree just like me. Let me tell you, she was WONDERFUL. I don't know how anybody could have possibly walked away from the retreat that day without feeling like they were touched in some way by the words she spoke.

Susan's topic was "Matters of the Heart" and she spoke to us about the parable of the four soils (or the sower's seeds). In the parable, God describes 4 types of soil and Susan likened them to people. The first type of soil is the soil along a pathway. When seeds are thrown on the path, they get trampled and are unable to take root. This is like the person who hears God's word but does not believe it. The words just go in one ear and out the other.

The second type of soil is that among the rocks. Seeds are unable to take root because of the rocks. This type of soil is like the person who hears God's word and believes it, but then does nothing about it.

The third type of soil is that among the thorns. Seeds take root and grow, but are then choked out by the thorns. This is like the person who hears the word, believes it, tries to live by it, but has thorns/sin that choke out the goodness or harden the heart.

And the fourth type of soil is the good, fertile soil where seeds take root and multiply with plants 100 times the number of seeds that were sown. This soil is like people who hear the word, believe it, and live the life that is pleasing to God without letting sin sway them.

Susan told us that, often, women are in the third soil. We hear the word and we believe it, but there are sins that get in the way of us being the Christians that God wants us to be. These sins are things we may not have even considered as sin before. Things like worry, busyness, and materialism. For me, the fact that she mentioned worry as a sin really hit home. I am a worrier. I worry that I won't be able to get everything done that I should, that things will go wrong. I worry about things beyond my control. But, as Susan said, when we worry, we are telling the Lord that we do not trust Him to make things right. We do not think he has the control, and we think that our worry will supersede what He can do. Wow. Have y'all ever considered that? Have you thought of worry as a sin? I never really did, but now that I had it pointed out to me, it's as clear as day.

One other sin she mentioned was busyness. How many things are you trying to juggle? While keeping all those balls in the air (family, friends, work, social activities, etc. etc. etc.), are you able to give enough time to God? Or is your heart hardened to Him because of all you have to do? This was another one that really spoke to me. Sometimes I feel like I can't fit one more thing into my day. On those days, reading my Bible may slide, or perhaps I don't talk to the Lord through prayer like I should. That's when busyness becomes a sin- a very real sin, but a sin that so often plagues women.

As far as materialism, we have all struggled with this at some point or another, I would imagine. When we see something that someone else has and we are jealous or covet it, we let materialism get the best of us. Things become more important than God. It's like the old saying, "He who has the most stuff wins." But, really, when it's all said and done you can't take the stuff with you when the Lord calls you. It doesn't matter to Him when you're standing at Heaven's gate that you drove a fancy car, or wore the finest labels. And I'm not saying that doing those things is a sin. But allowing ourselves to get so caught up in those things to the point of losing sight of God is where the sin comes in.

How many of us are guilty of these things? I know I am, and as much as I want to be living in the fourth soil, I know I often am living in the third soil. I allow the sins like worry and busyness and materialism to seep into me. And I know I need to do a better job. When these things seep in...when the worry comes, the busyness, the materialism, the impatience, the one upmanship, Susan said we should ask God to replace those things with a fruit of the spirit. Ask him to grant you love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control.

I'm working on doing these things so that I can live my life in the fourth soil. Will you?