Don’t assume you are good soil..

I’ve been slowly (but surely) reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. It’s a great book so far. Easy read, but has important points that are at times hard to swallow. One in particular hit home. 

So in the New Testament, Jesus tells a parable about seeds (representing the word of God) falling in different terrain (us, or our hearts), thus producing and growing differently.  It can fall on rocks, thorns, good soil etc.  Falling on rocks may grow and look good on the surface but it’s all show. Falling on thorns may grow at first but would quickly get tangled and choked by the thorns surrounding them. These thorns would be all the other distractions that take away from a relationship with Christ. Falling on good soil, now this will be deeply rooted and grow strong from the core all the way up to the surface. If you’ve been attending church for a while, chances are you are familiar with this parable. Here’s the part that was a great reminder for me: Don’t assume you are good soil. This seems directed straight at all the churchgoers who go to service on Sundays, worship, pray, possibly attend small/community groups and even give a bit of their income as offering. In other words, it’s directed to people like me. These actions don’t determine your salvation and if let unexamined, then your vision is prone to be clouded by assumptions that may not be true. I love this. We live in a society where equality is so important (and it is!) but it comes to a point where everything is sugarcoated true or not, just so no one is stepping on other people’s toes. It’s like we need to walk on a tight rope and one small statement can be taken offensively, especially in a church setting. I think hearing the hard to swallow messages are necessary, and to deliver that message is what love, community, and accountability is all about.

Don’t assume you are good soil. Just because you go to church (myself included) doesn’t mean you are saved. I’m wrestling with this. Christ has made it clear that he doesn’t want anything to do with lukewarm people. Hot or cold, all or nothing…be useful. Otherwise he will spit you out – straight from revelations. And this makes sense. He calls us to have a relationship with him. You can’t expect the blessing but not do your part. I’m not saying you earn your blessings but you also dont tell a father you love “I don’t want to have anything to do with you, but can i still allowance?” I long to be passionate, and to stay passionate. It’s hard.

Anyway, speaking of hard to swallow messages, Pastor Eugene from Cornerstone (my church) has been delivering messages that rebuke (but out of love) the church. I love it. I think it’s great. I think we need it. It shouldn’t always be about feel good messages because we are nowhere near perfect. We need the tough lessons. When spoken out of conviction they can be piercing. I look forward to hearing more.

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