Rocky Soil

From the Parable of the Sower:

Image by: georgeparrilla

"A sower went out to sow his seed....

...seed fell on the rock; when it sprang up, it withered, since it lacked moisture....the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, welcome the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and depart in a time of testing." Luke 8:1-15 (HCSB)

A couple of posts back I was talking about 'Character Over Kingdom" which leads to a simple directive: wait.

Connected to this thought is another great line: Excavate Rather than Build.

The parable of the sower describes a kind of believer who 'has no root' - in other words he is shallow and therefore unable to withstand difficulty. It's the same basic image as the guy who builds his house on the sand instead of the rock.

As I've walked through the last several years I can't tell you how many times I've been in a conversation where somebody winds up saying something like "You're different - I've never met a 'deep' Christian." I don't take this as a compliment to me or other Christians but instead a reflection on the likelihood that a LOT of Chistendom is living in rocky soil.

I suspect that all of us, at basically every point in our lives, are not characterized by any one of Jesus' soil metaphors but by all of them at the same time. Parts of my life welcome God gladly but thwart deep roots. Other parts are plagued by crows and still others are so sun baked that nothing gets through. But I'm just thinking about the rocky soil right now.

The thing about a rocky filed is this: there is good soil under there, it just takes hard work to get to it. Rocks need only to be noticed, lifted and moved out of the way to reveal what was always there, waiting to be put to good use.

Building 'depth' requires work, patience, and humility. I suspect many who stay shallow their whole lives do so out of ignorance more often than laziness though no doubt both come into play. Still, I think the biggest enemy of clearing stones is our addiction to comfort.

What you see is NOT what you get.

Let me bring in another image - the iceberg.

I think it was Craig who I first heard say that when you meet a man (or woman I presume) the entire thing we call their personality is really just the exposed part of something is driven by experiences, hurts and motives that are far, far deeper than any of us realize.

John Eldgredge says something similar that a man's personality is typically just a very elaborate fig leaf designed to mask what he is desperately afraid of - being known. I suppose that's not the entire thought - most men would kill to be truly known by just about anybody. What they fear is being 'exposed' where their worst image of themselves is revealed to be actually true.

The iceberg image is used to make a point about all of us - our lives are profoundly shaped by things that go on way beneath the surface, often so far down that we can't even see them in ourselves. For many, many people this reality is never understood and they go through life confounded by the things that seem to go wrong over and over and over again. In the context of this blog and The Intensive the iceberg is an invitation to deliberately go deep into our hearts to see what really lives there - to ask the tough questions and not walk away until we have answers.

• What are my real motives for being in this job?
• Why do I get so angry when she says that?
• Where did my passion go?

Knowledge is power. Understanding our own motives, desires, and fears can be absolutely pivotal in the way we go forward into a better future.

But 'soul work' is hard work.

Very

hard

work.

The iceberg is an image of what's really happening in our lives an in everybody's life. It's also an invitation to go deep into our hearts to look around. The rocky soil is a picture of the alternative, of a life 'unexamined' as Socrates would say.

Both images imply this idea of work to do, things to see and understand about ourselves. And yet - so few men take the time to try.

"God will give you everything you need for free. But everything you want - you'll have to work for." - Bill Johnson

I've found that all of the good stuff, all of the stuff that changes faith from a Sunday club to a full-throated crazy-talk adventure ride, is just beyond the veil of convenience. 

So I for one want very much to be 'good soil' where God's words, every thought, every murmur, every sigh, has a place to land where it can take root. I know that will take effort and perseverance and sacrifice but seriously - is it even remotely possible that it wouldn't be worth it?