"Seek First the Kingdom of God"
I would like to take Mark 4:13 and following verses as describing the urgent need for Christians to walk. In those days, when sowing seeds, they did not till the ground before sowing. Therefore, seeds were sometimes sown on roadsides, stony ground, thorns, and good land. It is easy to think that this parable is easy to understand, but is it really so?
As the Lord Jesus said, "And He said, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear'" (verse 9), isn't this a verse that we need to return to again and again when we believe in God? As a matter of fact, many scholars have explained that the words from verse 13 onwards were written to encourage those who abandoned their faith due to the severe persecutions and tribulations of the early church, and that the teachings of the Christians of that time were written here. Certainly, the time of the early church must have been filled with unimaginable persecution and difficulties against Christians. However, even today, when we continue to walk in faith, don't we encounter tribulations, riches, temptations, and worries?
As E.H. Peterson states in his meditation, "Christians place the God whom they cannot see with their eyes and hear with their ears at the center of their lives. We live in a world where what we see with our eyes and hear with our ears takes precedence. In the midst of all this, Christians are the ones who sincerely believe in the invisible God.
Satan will come and take away the seed that is sown by the wayside"(verse 15). Satan is the one who denies the existence of God. Corona infection is still going strong. Of course I do not deny medicine and science. I hope that medical science will be developed and effective treatments will be developed as soon as possible. However, I cannot say that all science is correct.
The Lord Jesus also said of those who were sown by the wayside, "As soon as they hear the Word, they gladly accept it, but because they have no roots of their own, they may continue for a while, but when tribulation or persecution occurs later because of the Word, they immediately stumble"; (verses 16, 17). (verses 16, 17). I would like to note the word "stumble. After the Lord Jesus had the Last Supper with His twelve disciples, He says, "All of you will stumble at Me" (14:27).
Peter says boldly, "Even if everyone stumbles, I will not stumble"(14:29). But as you will see in the following verses, the 12 disciples abandon the Lord Jesus.
Those who are sown with thorns "will have the cares of the world, the temptations of riches, and other desires enter in, and cover up the word, so that it bears no fruit"(verse 19). (verse 19). Let us not forget what the Lord Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount when He told us not to be anxious about what to wear or what to wear for our lives. First and foremost, seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you"(Matthew 6:33). I want to live my life believing in the kingdom (rule) of God first, believing that the seed that is sown will bear fruit a hundredfold.