“so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’””
~ Mark 4:12
Hi James and Ellen,
How much do you think that you are in control of your lives? Did you decide what days when you would be born? Did you decide who your dad and ma would be? Did you decide where you are living on planet Earth? Have you decided how big that you are going to get? Ask your dad and/or ma to find you a seed. The seed can be any kind of seed. Does the seed look to you like it has life? Do you know what kind of life that the seed has? Do you think that the seed has control over its life? Did the seed decide when it would become a seed? Will the seed decide when it will begin to sprout? Will the seed decide how it will look after it begins to grow? God’s Word is like your lives. God’s Word is like the seed. God decided when you would be born. God decided who your dad and ma would be. God decided where you are living today on planet Earth. God knows already how big that you will get. God has decided what the life will be for every seed. God has decided what will happen to every seed. God has decided when a seed that is planted will begin to sprout. God wants His Word to be like the seed that your dad and ma got for you. Look really well at the seed that your dad and/or ma got for you. Does the seed have legs? Does the seed have eyes? Can the seed talk? Do you know why there are seeds? What have you eaten today? Food comes from seeds. Flowers grow from seeds. God wants His Word planted like a seed in your lives. God knows when His Word will be planted like a seed in your lives. Once God has His Word planted liked a seed in your lives, God’s Word will begin to grow in your lives. If God’s Word is never planted in your lives, you will never know what it is like to have God’s Word grow – like a seed, in your lives. If God’s Word is planted in your lives – if it has not been already planted in your lives, and is growing, you will find yourselves innately wanting to plant God’s Word in other kids’ lives.
Mark was a reporter/writer who lived a little less than 2000 years ago. After Jesus – God the Son, lived for thirty-five or so years on planet Earth and after He ascended into heaven to live with His Father – God the Father, Mark wrote a book that includes many of the things that Jesus did and many of Jesus’ teachings. Your grandpaa does not know who Mark went to to get eyewitness incident statements of what Jesus did and/or said. Jesus spent nearly all of His life in the Palestine region. Palestine is the land where God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids were and are living. Other names for Palestine are Canaan and Israel. Jesus spent the majority of His life living with His dad and ma in Nazareth. Jesus spent only three or so years teaching His Father’s Word to His Father’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids who lived in Palestine. Jesus used parables – like the parable that is found in Mark 4, to teach the twelve guys who He chose to be His disciples and the guys and gals who were following Him. Jesus also used similes, comparisons, analogies and ordinary illustrative life stories to teach the twelve guys who He chose to be His disciples and the guys and gals who were following Him. Why do you think that Jesus did not tell the guys and gals who were following Him exactly what they needed to hear in order for them to believe in what He was teaching? Jesus one day – after He told a parable to the twelve guys who He chose to be his disciples about a farmer randomly sowing seeds, Mark recorded in verse 12 what Jesus explained to the guys was the secret of His parables “so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”” Do you know who the they are who Jesus is referring to in this verse? Do you know in whose world that you are living in right now? You are living right now in the devil’s world. Before God created planet Earth, God specially elected His own children. The guys, gals and kids who God did not elect as His very own children would become allied with the devil. God did not want the guys, gals and kid who He was allowing to be the devil’s toadies to decide to believe in His Word. God still wants these guys, gals and kids to hear His Word being taught but . . . He will never let His Word to start to grow in the lives of these guys, gals and kids.
Mark wrote many of the same things that Matthew and Luke would write in their books. Something that Mark wrote about that Matthew and Luke did not write about was a short parable that Jesus gave of a guy indiscriminately scattering seeds on the ground. After the guy had arbitrarily scattered seeds on the ground, the seeds began to grow on their own. The seeds sprouted and grew day and night without anyone helping them grow. Grain seeds only need the soil around them to begin to grow, form a stalk, make a head and develop seeds. Did a guy, gals or kid help the seeds to sprout, grow, mature and . . . God has designed seeds to sprout at a certain time, grow in a certain way and produce a predetermined flower and/or fruit. When God’s Word is sown in the hearts of the guys, gals and kids who God elected for Himself before He created planet Earth, the God’s Word seed will sprout and grow in the life of the guy, gal or kid until the seed has matured to where the guy, gal and kid will be able to sow God’s Word’s seed in the lives of other guys, gals and kids. Your grandpaa has heard a guy, gal or kid say that he or she has led a guy, gal or kid to the Lord. Your grandpaa knows that no guy, gal or kid can ever lead a guy, gal or kid to the Lord. Because your grandpaa is like the farmer who in Jesus’ parable sowed seeds, your grandpaa knows that God expects your grandpaa to sow God’s Word in the lives of guys, gals and kids. God is who will have His Word sprout in the life of a guy, gal or kid and Who will have a guy, gal or kid grow in his or her faith. Your grandpaa is to be the farmer who knows when the time is right to sow God’s Word seed in the life of a guy, gal or kid and to nature the seed’s growth.
Mark 4 (298)