Does This Seem Fair?

I have been reading the parable of the soils quite a bit this year, actually all three accounts every day. Jesus asked the question in Mark's version that if we didn't understand this parable, then how would we understand any of the parables? So for the year 2011, I am endeavoring to understand this parable.

Today as I was reading in Matthew's account I came across this Scripture and it made me go huh? Matthew 13:12 "Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them." I've read that every day now for over a month, and today the "fairness cop" inside of me said, "Wait a minute, that doesn't seem right."

Why is it that I think that you ask? Well, I mean come on doesn't God want the best for all of us? I believe He does, after all Jeremiah 29:11 states; "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." I don't know about you, but Jesus stating that those that don't have, even what they have will be taken from them, doesn't quite add up in my book.

Yet as I pondered this today, I'm reminded of the old adage, "The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer." It is according to what we have and what we do with what we have. Most of the time those that have, do something with it and of course more comes. Those that don't have, are unable to do anything because they don't have, so they end up in a worse place than they started.

The parable of the soils, is a lesson in what kind of heart you possess:

1. Beside the road.
2. Rocky.
3. Thorny.
4. Good.

So if you possess a heart that is hard, like beside the road, the enemy will take any Word of God sown away from you immediately. If your heart is rocky, then the Word sown will only produce until some type of persecution comes against you. If you are the person with the thorny heart, then the cares of the world will hold the Word sown in bondage, and it will be unable to produce. But if your heart is good soil (I like Luke's version "a noble and good heart") the Word sown will produce anywhere from a 30 % to 100 % increase in your life.

So while at first reading this Scripture seems to be unfair, it's not. It is a principle of the Kingdom of God, and I for one am thankful that Jesus pointed it out to us three times in the Bible. (Out of the mouths of two or three witnesses let every word be established) I know now, that I am going to have to till up the ground of my heart to be able to make it like Luke said, "A noble and good heart" that will be able to produce the 30 - 100 % return.

Get 'em up folks, let's go out and whip something for the Kingdom of God today!