And He began again to teach by the sea side:
and there was gathered unto Him a great multitude,
so that He entered into a ship, and sat in the sea;
and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.
And He taught them many things by parables,
and said unto them in His doctrine,
Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side,
and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.
And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth;
and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:
But when the sun was up, it was scorched;
and because it had no root, it withered away.
And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it,
and it yielded no fruit.
And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up
and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty,
and some an hundred. And he said unto them,
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Mark 4:1-9
The times are tougher than ever to stay close to the Lord
It takes time and energy and dedication
Jesus has to be our very first priority, always
Our soil can change
Our soil can become rocky or dry or shallow,
depending on our efforts toward our relationship with the Lord
Tilling our soil, praying, worshiping, fasting, reading the bible,
studying the bible, letting the Kingdom of God fill our hearts and minds
Another way to put it is we can become a Martha,
always concerned and worried about so many things
We need to remember that being a Mary,
that is, having the ability to keep Jesus front and center in our lives
is available to all of us
It takes our choices to serve Jesus as much as possible,
choosing to spend time with Him,
sitting at His feet learning from Him, seeking His face,
letting Him search our hearts and listening for His voice
and whatever He is saying to us and trying to teach us
We cannot hang our hats on what we have done before,
in other words, we cannot rest on our laurels,
we have to keep our lamps filled with oil
It is so easy to get distracted by the cares of life
And Jesus answered and said unto her,
Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part,
which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10:41-42
Keep your soil healthy to receive the things of God
Additional Scriptures:
Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins,
which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
And at midnight there was a cry made,
Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
And the foolish said unto the wise,
Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
But the wise answered, saying,
Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you:
but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came;
and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage:
and the door was shut.
Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour
wherein the Son of man cometh.
Matthew 25:1-13