The Choice That Unleashes the Amazing Miracle Life

I was eating dinner one evening with an acquaintance at a banquet when the discussion drifted onto spiritual topics. I was surprised but he evidently had heard I was a Christian and so he wanted to tell me his world view.

He said, “I don’t believe in God. When I was in college and studied evolution it changed my life. I made a decision that I no longer believed in God. I just don’t see how any intelligent rational person can possibly believe in God.”

Wow, that really endeared him to me. Yet, it was neither the time nor place to have that an in depth discussion. So I simply shared with him a bit about my journey into faith and briefly the reasons why to me it makes sense.

He replied, “That’s nice for you but I just don’t buy it.”  After that we didn’t have any more time to discuss it so we left it at that.

Yet, I thought afterwards that in reality he chose his position and really didn’t want further exploration.

I remembered that evening as I read a parable Jesus told. He talked about a farmer who goes out and sows wheat. Now he couldn’t have been the best farmer because he’s throwing seed everywhere.

Some of it fell on the road that ran alongside his field. So the birds swarmed in picking up seed as fast as it landed.

Later Jesus explained the parable, “When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.”*

Have you ever traveled on a dirt road? Years of traffic along with rain, sun and wind packs it hard like concrete. Very little grows on it. That was Jesus’ point.

I’ve seen people get that way too. So many years of walking the path they’ve chosen whether consciously or inadvertently packs it. They’re no longer open to new ideas. They simply don’t want their neat tidy world disturbed.
And they definitely don’t want to think they’ve lived their life going down the wrong road.

So when they hear God’s promise it’s gobbled up by the evil one as fast as it lands.

I compare that to others I’ve known who were hungry to learn.

Perhaps they faced a crisis that ripped up their neat tidy road. Perhaps they’re young and still searching for answers to this scary mysterious adventure we call life.

So instead of their road being packed and impenetrable it’s open to the seed being planted. They grasp that seed and let it sprout.

And when it does they have new life born in them. They have a life filled up with all the fruitfulness God intends. They grow into the life we each were meant to have. An amazing supernatural life only God can grow in us.

It all comes down to a choice.

A choice unleashes the amazing miracle life God designed for each of us.

What are your thoughts?

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*Matthew 13: 3-4, 19

Photo Credit: Pacheco (Creative Commons)