Don’t Skimp on the Seed

by: Lou Lotz

The sower goes forth sowing, scattering gospel seed on the just and the unjust, the high and the low, the promising and the unpromising, never knowing where and when the seed might find fertile ground. Seeds sometimes grow in unexpected places. A crooked tax collector, so ashamed of himself that he dared not even lift his eyes to heaven, he was good soil. A prostitute who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears, she was good soil. You never know where you’re going to find good soil.

The Parable of the Sower is first and foremost about soil, and the question it asks is: What kind of soil are you? But sometimes we’re also sowers. At least I hope so. With our words and our witness we scatter God’s seed, hoping for a harvest. As sowers, we shouldn’t pre-judge the soil. The sower broadcasts the seed, flinging it everywhere. He doesn’t assume that some ground isn’t worth a pinch of seed. The seed is plentiful, so why skimp?

Often we pre-judge people. We decide in advance who is worth our witness and who isn’t. Who will likely respond to the gospel and who won’t. Paul wasn’t a promising candidate for conversion. Were you? Some human soil may look unpromising, but the sower goes on sowing and the results can be amazing. Shepherds stopped to listen. Fishermen dropped their nets. Zacchaeus climbed a tree. You just never know where you’re going to find good soil.