Spurgeon: January AM
* 01/11/AM
"These have no root."
--Luke 8:13
My soul, examine thyself this morning by the light of this
text. Thou hast received the word with joy; thy feelings have
been stirred and a lively impression has been made; but,
remember, that to receive the word in the ear is one thing, and
to receive Jesus into thy very soul is quite another;
superficial feeling is often joined to inward hardness of heart,
and a lively impression of the word is not always a lasting one.
In the parable, the seed in one case fell upon ground having a
rocky bottom, covered over with a thin layer of earth; when the
seed began to take root, its downward growth was hindered by the
hard stone and therefore it spent its strength in pushing its
green shoot aloft as high as it could, but having no inward
moisture derived from root nourishment, it withered away. Is
this my case? Have I been making a fair show in the flesh
without having a corresponding inner life? Good growth takes
place upwards and downwards at the same time. Am I rooted in
sincere fidelity and love to Jesus? If my heart remains
unsoftened and unfertilized by grace, the good seed may
germinate for a season, but it must ultimately wither, for it
cannot flourish on a rocky, unbroken, unsanctified heart. Let me
dread a godliness as rapid in growth and as wanting in endurance
as Jonah's gourd; let me count the cost of being a follower of
Jesus, above all let me feel the energy of His Holy Spirit, and
then I shall possess an abiding and enduring seed in my soul. If
my mind remains as obdurate as it was by nature, the sun of
trial will scorch, and my hard heart will help to cast the heat
the more terribly upon the ill-covered seed, and my religion
will soon die, and my despair will be terrible; therefore, O
heavenly Sower, plough me first, and then cast the truth into
me, and let me yield Thee a bounteous harvest.