For a description of the (Y2) reading plan, see the “About” page.
Luke 8
How we receive God’s word matters. What kind of soil are you? What can you do about it? Jesus’ parable of the Sower speaks of the condition of our heart. Our hearts can be open to Satan. They can be hard and resistant to God. Or they can be consumed with other things. I was just talking a couple days ago about how we really have to plant God’s word deep into our hearts and nourish it there. We need that “noble and good heart” that Jesus spoke of for God’s word to really take root in us and produce a changed life. But how do we get that kind of heart?
The answer is that we take it to God in prayer. If our hearts are dry, rocky, or thorny, they don’t have to stay that way. Our God can “[turn] the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs” (Ps. 107:35). He can likewise “[turn] rivers into a desert, flowing springs into thirsty ground, and fruitful land into a salt waste” (Ps. 107:33-34a). The question is, are we willing to humble ourselves before God and allow Him to have His way in our hearts?
Gen. 15-16
What did Abram have to do to be called righteous? When God told Abram He would give him a son, “Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to Him as righteousness.” (Gen. 15:6). But when God told Abram He would give him possession of the land, Abram asked, “how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” (Gen. 15:7b). God’s response was the covenant He made with Abram. Note that Abram did not take part in the making of this covenant. It was all on God.
Like Jesus’ story of the Sower, this story is something of a parable. The Promised Land is our eternal salvation. Abram’s question is what we all want to know. How can we know that we will have eternal life with God? God’s answer is His one-sided covenant with us. But God didn’t use animals to make this covenant. He used His own Son. The book of Hebrews speaks extensively about how God’s better covenant through Jesus is our guarantee; our absolute assurance that we will receive God’s promised salvation. So, just as Abram believed when God promised him a son, all we need to do is believe God’s promise to give us His Son. It will be counted to us as righteousness and we will be guaranteed possession of God’s Promised Land.