Superficial type of hearer…

We are looking in Luke 8 at hearing from GOD.  In verse 6 (NLT) He says, “Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock.  This seed began to grow but soon withered and died for lack of moisture.”

Just as the hardened path in verse 5 represents the closed mind, the shallow soil represents a superficial mind.  It’s shallow.

When He talks about rocky soil here HE’s not talking about soil with a bunch of rocks in it.  In much of the Middle East and particularly in Israel, much of Israel is built on a bedrock of limestone with about 3-4 inches or topsoil on top of it. 

That means that plants can grow down 2-3 inches but that’s about it.  So when summer comes and the heat is on, the plants wither; they die because they don’t have any roots because there’s a bedrock underneath that does not allow them to develop deep roots.

He's saying this represents this superficial type of hearer who hears the word of God.  It sprouts up and they’re all excited about it but it doesn’t last and when the heat is on and when the problems come they will wither away and fall away.

And we do this.  Sometimes we hear GOD and we get all excited about it and we’re superficially moved and we react emotionally but we never give it the time to sink into our minds.

I don’t know how many people in my ministry have told me, “I was so moved by that message!  I was really touched.  I was moved to tears!” 

But a month later, there is still no perceivable life change or behavioral difference in their life.  They’re still living the same way.  They get all excited about the message but they didn’t do anything about it so as a result they are just shallow, superficial. 

They have no roots, so when the heat is on, they’re not going to last.

Just a thought from the front porch…