the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 3 of 5
Matthew 13:18-30
Among those who hear the Word, the Lord in His perfect knowledge of the human heart distinguishes four classes of persons. The first is compared to the trodden down soil of the wayside, which has become hardened by being trampled on by everybody. Does our heart resemble this wayside on which the world passes up and down, so that the Word cannot penetrate it?
Others, like these "stony places" are superficial characters. Their conscience has not been deeply stirred by conviction of sin. Thus the fleeting feeling experienced on hearing the gospel is but the appearance of faith.
If genuine faith necessarily has roots which are invisible, it is by its visible fruits that it is known. Without works, faith is dead, stifled like the seeds sprung up in the midst of the thorns (James 2:17).
But the seed also fell into good ground where the ears could ripen in their season.
The parable of the tares teaches us that the enemy has not only snatched away the good seed whenever he could (v. 19) but that he has also sown bad seed while men slept. Sleep in the spiritual sense puts us at the mercy of every bad influence and so we are continually exhorted to be vigilant (Mark 13:37; 1 Peter 5:8, etc.).
