The Parable of the Sower

    Many of Jesus' parables are told throughout the new testament. A parable is a short story that compares an idea to a common story. The parable of the sower is told in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:2-20, and Luke 8:4-15. Now, lets take a look at what this parable is about and what it means.
    Jesus told, "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he went about scattering his seed, some fell along the path and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places. It sprang up quickly in the shallow ground but soon withered because it did not have a good root system. Another seed fell among the thorns, which grew up and choked the plant. Still, another seed fell on good soil where it produced a crop-a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."(Summarized from Matthew 13:1-23, New International Version) The disciples then came to Jesus and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?" He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will have taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables : Though seeing they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them. 
 The Meaning of The Parable

•     When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one (Satan) comes and steals it away. This is the seed sown along the path.
•      The seed on the rocky ground is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But when trouble or persecution because of the word, he lasts only a short time. 
•      The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfullness of wealth choke him, making it unfruitful. 
•      But the one who falls into good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces crop.

***The soil in this parable represents the human heart.***

   So what describes the soil of YOUR heart? Stony? Shallow? Strangled? Or Spiritual?