Stories Jesus Told: A 6-Day Reading Plan Sample

The Parable of the Soils

In last week’s study, we discussed how Jesus used parables when He taught, and we unpacked some of the reasons He did so. This week, we’ll look at our first parable which is known as the parable of the soils, which can be found in Matthew 13.

Jesus identified four potential types of soil that represent the human heart, and He explained the parable in further detail.

The four types of soils that Jesus mentions represent potential conditions of the human heart: a hard heart (v. 19), shallow heart (v. 20-21), worldly heart (v. 22), or open heart that’s receptive to God’s truth (v. 23). Let’s break down what those are.

All of us have the capacity to have hardness in our hearts. The problem with hard-heartedness is that there’s no room for the seed (which represents God’s truth) to get in at all. The seed sits on the surface and is exactly what the enemy Satan wants because the Word of God can’t get in and change you. It sits on the surface and gets nowhere.

We live in a shallow culture that focuses more on outer appearances rather than inner depth. Sadly, the same thing can happen in our faith. What do I mean by shallowness? There’s no roots there. You start to grow in your faith, but the troubles of life usher in a storm and because your faith lacks deep roots, the storms of life drench the soil of our hearts and washout and uproot the seeds that were planted. Our spiritual lives need depth to thrive.

No one sets out to have a worldly heart, but if we aren’t careful the fast pace and the stress of life can distract us to the point it impacts our faith. We can get so caught up in day-to-do living and the pursuit of making a living that we forget what matters most.

Jesus wants us to be fruitful. He wants His good Word that He sows in our hearts to land on good ground unencumbered, not by hardness, not by rocks that make it shallow, and not by other species that choke out the fruit. For each one of us, the goal is to abide in Jesus. The goal is to have a heart receptive to God’s Word and a life that produces fruit in a way that brings glory to the kingdom of God.