Harsh Realities
"Once again Jesus began teaching by the lakeshore. There was such a large crowd along the shore that he got into a boat and sat down and spoke from there. He began to teach the people by telling them many stories such as this one: 'Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate it. Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The plant sprang up quickly, but it soon wilted beneath the hot sun and died because the roots had no nourishment in the shallow soil. Other seed fell among thorns that shot up and choked out the tender blades so that it produced no grain. Still other seed fell on fertile soil and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted.' Then he said, 'Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand!'" Mark 4:1-9 (NLT).
Jesus had just gone through one of the roughest days of his ministry. His own family told others that he was out of his mind. Then, the religious leaders of his day told everyone that he was demon-possessed. Finally, to top it all off, his family comes around a second time to try to take him home, still believing him to be insane.
Now that's a rough day!
Jesus' response to all these attacks was to tell the story of the soils (above). Later, he will tell exactly what this story means (see Mark 4:14-20). We shall look at this when we come to it. But for now, we simply note that Jesus is acknowledging harsh realities regarding the reception of the Word of God.
The harsh reality is that most people will never accept Jesus Christ. In fact, Jesus himself was rejected continually throughout his ministry, as seen by the rejection of most of the religious leaders, and even his own family, initially.
The harsh reality for us is that most people we witness to, simply will never come to their senses and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Just as only one of four of the seeds sown by the farmer produced fruit, so only one in four people you attempt to bring to Christ ever will.
Now this is an important truth for us to remember, for the temptation to become discouraged and quit telling others about Jesus is great. We will say to ourselves, "What's the use? No one will listen anyway." Or we'll tell ourselves, "This is a waste of time. Why put out so much effort to try to reach people who aren't going to listen anyway?"
This is how Satan works. He works to discourage God's people from telling others the Good News about Jesus. Why? Because he knows that only by receiving the Good News of Jesus can someone be saved from the fires of hell, and find meaningful life here and now.
I don't know how many times I felt like my efforts for the kingdom were wasted ones. It seemed like most people simply weren't interested in God's Word - at least, not beyond a light conversation about it. In writing these Insight articles, I have occasionally wondered if anyone was getting anything out of them, and whether or not it was worth it to continue. Then, just about the time I start thinking this way, someone writes to tell me how much God has used my meager efforts to make a difference in their lives. I always come back to the realization that God does work, whether it seems like it or not.
So, there is a harsh reality - - most people will never follow Christ. Nor will they respond the way we want them to, nor will they gain eternal life. It is a sad truth; a truly harsh reality. But by accepting it, we can stop beating ourselves up over the fact that no one seems to be listening to us when we speak about the things of God. We can stop blaming ourselves.
Oh, to be sure, we need to hone our skills and shoot for excellence in how we convey God's Word to others. It may just be that our poor presentation of the Good News plays a part in other's rejection of it. For example, if we beat others over the head with the Bible, they are likely to reject it. We must improve our presentation of God's Word by not doing this. We must always strive to grow, to become better at presenting Jesus to others.
However, we must also accept the harsh reality that most will never accept him. Understanding this will greatly relieve us of the pressure to always succeed. It will stop us from feeling guilty because not everyone beats a path to our door, or the door of our church.
Remember, Jesus had long, hard days of rejection too. And if the people of his day would not even listen to the son of God himself, they will close their ears to us as well. So stop being depressed and downcast and eaten with guilt because you haven't brought hundreds to Christ, or because someone you care about is still lost. Don't give up on them, but don't blame yourself for their condition, either.
Instead, learn to rejoice in the small victories, and concentrate on them. God is at work whether or not we realize it. And, in the end, we will come to know just how much he worked through us when we one day stand in heaven to see all the faces impacted through our efforts.