Cultivating a Good Dirty Heart

In his Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:4-15), Jesus presents four types of soil. Each represents a particular state of receptiveness of the human heart toward the sowing of the ‘seed’ of God's Word. Among the soil varieties only one bears fruit: the “good soil”. Jesus invites us not merely to admire the harvest, but to desire the harvest – and therefore to carefully examine the condition, or dirt-type, of our own hearts.

The good soil pictures “those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” Thankfully, faced with the fallen human heart which “is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17:9) God promises a heart-transplant or a garden-makeover, for he says to His people, “I will give you a new heart”(Ezekiel 36:26).

He does this through the sending of His Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Saviour and Lord. Interestingly, the resurrected Jesus Himself was ‘mistakenly’ identified as “the gardener” at the garden tomb (John 19:41, 20:15). As the expert and patient Gardener, God the Father continues to toil over the soil of our hearts. (John 15:1). Like Father, like Son!

The gardeners or farmers among us know that for soil to remain ‘good’, it must be tilled, cleared of stones, de-weeded and protected from thorns. A heart left untended becomes hardened, shallow or crowded. The apt condition of a healthy human heart is crucial for spiritual fruitfulness. “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23)

Are thorns choking or stones blocking growth within you? Is the seed snatched or the seedling stifled? Receiving God’s word isn’t a passive endeavour; it involves repentance and surrender to God’s tender, tending love. Bearing much good fruit requires that we take root in Christ Jesus, who declares “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Let us each heed the call to “break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, that He may come and rain righteousness upon you.” (Hosea 10:12) May we, as God’s holy and dearly loved people, “… get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.” (James 1:21) May we each be able to declare, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:11)

It is time to humbly expose our hearts to the fork, spade and trowel of the Lord as we receive and retain His seed-word. I pray that we, by patience and perseverance – without growing weary or giving up – and at the proper time – may bear much fruit, “thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold” (Mark 4:20, Galatians 6:9)

Revd Michael Hogg