Got a heart condition?

Over the last week we've been thinking about the parable of the sower from Mark 4. One of the things with parables is that if you put yourself in different places in the story you'll see something different. We've already thought a bit about how the story might apply to us when we read it from the perspective of the sower - but what about from the perspective of the soil?

There are four kinds of soil mentioned here each relating to a different response to hearing the word of God. Sometimes the word barely makes it past the ears before it is snatched away - sometimes through conscious rejection, sometimes because of distractions and interruptions. 

Sometimes the word starts to grow, changes begin to occur, but because there is no root, when these life changes start to bring trouble the person reverts back to the old way of life. 

Other times this new life starts to grow but it is swamped by the worries of life and the commitment to the pursuit of 'stuff'. Priorities and choices mean this new life is slowly strangled.

And then there are times when the word grows and produces and abundant harvest.

One way of thinking about this is that each type of soil represents a different person in the congregation (for example) and explains why there are different responses to the same sermon. But another way of thinking about it is to make it personal. Within me there is the potential to be any one of these four soil types. So when I open my Bible today, when I go to church on Sunday - what is the condition of my heart?

Is my attitude such that I will reject, out of hand, what I read or hear? Do I respond but never take things further, never put down roots, and therefore when things get tough my faith disappears? Or maybe the priorities in my life are all out of balance, so that when I look at how I use my time or my finances I'm not investing in the right things - to use the words of Jesus, I'm not storing up treasure in heaven. Or as I look back over the last month, six months...can I see what God has been doing in my life?

What is the condition of my heart today? Do I need to break up the soil, pick out the rocks, pull out the weeds...?