The Seed of Truth

As you do not know the path of the wind,

or how the body is formed in a mother's womb,

so you cannot understand the work of God,

the Maker of all things (Ecc. 11:3).
***************************************
 

...He called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

His disciples asked him what this parable meant.  He said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,

"though seeing, they may not see;

though hearing, they may not understand" (Is. 6:9).

 

This is the meaning of the parable:  The seed is the word of God.

Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they cannot believe and be saved.  Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root.  They believe for a while, but in the time of testing, they fall away.  The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by life's worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature.  But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop  (Luke 8:8-15)

****************************************************************************

 

I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.  But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth...the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you (Jn. 16: 12 & 15).

******************************************

 

When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me (Jn. 15: 26).

************************************************************

It is not enough for us to read the Bible--the Word of God-- and to assume that we can understand it. In fact, 1 Cor. 2:14 tells us that the "natural" man, or the "man without the Spirit" cannot understand the things of God unless they are given to him (revealed to him) by the Holy Spirit.  The "things of God," the mysteries of God, the Truth, is "foolishness" to the man without the Spirit. 

 

Scripture was written by inspiration, or breathing in, of the Holy Spirit, who alone knows the things of God and who alone reveals them to mankind.  The ways of God are not the ways of man, and His thoughts cannot be apprehended by the human mind alone....but they are given to us by the Spirit of Truth.

 

It is not that we cannot know truth; we can know it, but it must be "received," not "grabbed."  The difference is a relationship with the Holy Spirit, who willingly and generously wants to pour out on us everything that belongs to Jesus Christ, as soon as we are able to bear it.  In the passage above from Luke, the disciples asked Jesus to explain His words to them.  How many of us "ask" for explanation and understanding of the word of God?  To be a "disciple" means to be a student, one who wants to understand, one who asks questions and who perseveres in searching out the Truth.

 

If we cannot ask for help, if we cannot seek guidance and understanding from the Spirit of Jesus, who loves to teach us, there is not much chance of us knowing the Truth.  Jesus IS the Truth; the Spirit of Truth "goes out from the Father" and "testifies" about Jesus.  The role of the Holy Spirit is to make Jesus real to us, so that we know the Truth.  Anything else is like the shadows on the back wall of Plato's cave; it has the appearance of reality, but is only a shadow of the eternal and everlasting Truth of God.

 

"Hearing" the Word of God requires that Jesus open our ears just as He opened the ears of the deaf 2000 years ago.  Those of us who cannot ask will not receive and will go on their way thinking they understand, but they cannot retain the Word in their hearts.  A good place to begin is by slowly chewing and digesting the Scriptures above, reading them over and over until the seed begins to germinate in our hearts and minds and eventually produces a harvest of belief.  Jesus said, "Blessed is the one who hears the word of God and keeps it."  He said this of His mother, who allowed the seed planted by the word to grow in her heart, in her mind, and in her body, until it produced a rich harvest for mankind.