DO you believe today that the gospel makes sense? God has made us free to accept or reject His love, because without freedom, there is no love. Love and freedom cannot exist one without the other. Accordingly, for those who accept it, love becomes the very content of heaven and eternal life; for those who reject it, this same love, becomes the opposite, eternal darkness, sadness, and alienation.
The parable of the sower is a warning that if we fail in our calling, it is only because we have chosen to fail. The author of Hebrews writes, “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil and unbelieving heart which leads you to fall away from the living God.” This parable teaches us that even though we may have a heart that is shallow and superficial infected by worldly desires.
There is hope for us only if we are willing to work with God. The liturgy (meaning our common work) of the Church prepares the heart for the implantation of the word.
The parable thus concludes “And as for those with the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.” God will provide us with a good harvest, with a harvest that is abundantly rich, if only we do our part. This is why we as Orthodox Christians on the “little things” that belong to the spiritual life: to daily prayer, to attendance at Church services, to the study of the scriptures, to the guarding of our thoughts and feelings, to confessing our sins, and all the rest. God can and will bring forth within each of us an abundant harvest. “For by this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
