My soul, examine yourself this morning by the light of this text! You have received the word with joy. Your feelings have been stirred. A lively impression has been made. But remember this: receiving the word in your ears is one thing. Receiving Jesus into your very soul? That is something else entirely!

Superficial feelings often live right alongside a hard heart. And a lively impression of God's word is not always a lasting one.

In the parable, some seed fell on ground with rock just beneath the surface, covered by only a thin layer of soil. When that seed tried to grow roots, it hit stone. So it spent all its strength shooting upward, pushing its green stem as high as it could. But with no deep roots to draw moisture from, it withered and died.

Is this my case? Have I been making a fair show in the flesh without a corresponding inner life? True growth happens in two directions at once—upward and downward. Am I rooted in sincere fidelity and love to Jesus?

If my heart remains unsoftened and unfertilized by grace, the good seed may sprout for a season, but it must ultimately wither. It cannot flourish on rocky, unbroken, unsanctified ground.

Let me dread a godliness as rapid in growth and as wanting in endurance as Jonah's gourd! Let me count the cost of following Jesus. Above all, let me feel the energy of His Holy Spirit. Then I shall possess an abiding and enduring seed in my soul.

If my mind remains as obdurate as it was by nature, the sun of trial will scorch, and my hard heart will help cast the heat more terribly upon the ill-covered seed. My religion will soon die, and my despair will be terrible.

Therefore, O heavenly Sower, plow me first! Break up this hard ground. Then cast your truth into me, and let me yield you a bounteous harvest!