DON’T ANCHOR AT SHALLOW DEPTHS

Reference text: Matthew 13:1-23

The text in view today is the parable of the sower: a popular chapter in scripture which is a core basis for how we engage with God word. For our discourse today, the verses of interest are:

Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root (Matt 13:5-6)

It has been a bit summer across most of Europe the last month, so it is easy to look around and notice grounds of scorched plants. This makes it reasonable appropriate to blame any associated withering on the sun’s heat. However, the highlight of our focused verses is “the depth of soil”.

We read that the the those plants withered not because the sun rose to scorch, but because “they had no roots”. So pivoting on the definition of scorching which means ‘to burn the surface of something with intense heat, often without completely consuming it’, we realise that the sun in all its grandeur could only deliver superficial punches and bruises to the sprouting seeds.

The heat from life can leave scorch marks on everyone and everything, yet what remains and what withers are determined by how deep one’s roots go. Don’t be anchored at shallow depths when you are unaware of the intensity of heat the sun is rising with. Go deeper into the ground.

#sly