We’re all familiar with the parable of the sower (Matthew 13) – from Sunday school on we’ve heard it.  But I confess, I’ve been confused by it.  Is this about salvation?  And if so, can I lose my salvation?  Can it die?  Can it be choked out?  Do only some make it?

Look at what Jesus says in verse 11 – “the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you.”  The parable, then, is really about my response to the message of the kingdom: God’s effective rule in the midst of my circumstances, in my real life right now, a new way, his life in me and my life in him.  It’s not about me believing a specific set of theology answers that will guarantee my ticket into an event or place sometime later, somewhere far away.  It’s about a different way of living, expectantly, full of hope and belief, a complete change of mind based on truth, knowledge and facts, here and now.

A kingdom has laws, laws that govern, but also laws that bring freedom, as much as the law of lift and thrust brings with it freedom from the law of gravity.

The parable, then, isn’t so much about the intake of facts that would cause me to be “saved,” but rather, about my response to the message of the kingdom, of a new life here and now, and what my results will be based on my response.  Not just, do I believe it, but is this message changing me?  I could be “saved”, but miss this kingdom life all together, as birds eat it off the path.  I could get a taste of it, but end up a flash in the pan, bailing as soon as things got hard.  I could quit because of the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of wealth, choking out kingdom life and making it unfruitful – i.e., choosing my earthly kingdom over the kingdom of the heavens.  Or, I could take on this message of the kingdom, and see real life, real fruit bear out “a hundred times, sixty times, thirty times what was sown.”

I don’t know where I head from here, but I want more.  If there’s a different reality available to me now, if the secrets of the kingdom have been given to me, then, thank you, I’ll take that.  Open my heart to you, Jesus.  Lead the way.