Guard the Seed
by Santiago Hernandez
"The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful." — Matthew 13:22, NIV
Matthew 13:22 speaks about what can prevent the Word of God from bearing fruit in our lives. It focuses on four key aspects: indifference, worry, deceit, and unfruitfulness.
1. Hearing but Not Obeying
The Word of God is a seed we must not only hear and know but also live and put into practice. Only then does it begin to sprout and take root within us, bringing transformation to everything that sin has distorted in our lives.
2. Living in the Worries of Life
Worries are everything that distracts us and pulls us away from what God is saying. They represent the daily pressures we try to solve with our own strength: material needs, emotional burdens, vain desires, and ambitions that don’t always come from God.
3. Being Deceived by Wealth
Let us not place our security in the false riches that this world promotes. Wealth can be anything abundant that makes us feel self-sufficient and stable, drawing us away from our dependence on God.
4. Fruit That Never Grows
Let’s not allow the noise of the world, with all its worries, deceptions, and false promises, to distract us from God’s truth or lead us to neglect the harvest He wants to produce in us. Just as in farming, for fruit to grow, the seed must be planted in good soil, not in dry, barren ground. Otherwise, it won’t flourish. In the same way, the spirit needs fertile soil filled with obedience, faith, and dependence on God. If we don’t care for that seed or nourish our relationship with the Lord, we won’t see real transformation or spiritual fruit in our lives.
Now, I’d like to share why this verse is so important to me. Before receiving Christ and encountering the truth that transformed and redefined my life, I knew God existed, but I didn’t follow Him. I grew up in a Christian family, went to church, and knew Bible stories. Still, I gave too much attention to the noise of distractions and never truly heard the voice of God.
I remember attending church and hearing the Word, but it never stayed. Why? Because many other things inside me were making noise, and I allowed them to. The seed was entering, yes, but the soil wasn’t ready to be cultivated. I got caught up in defining success by the world’s standards: getting a degree, building a career, owning a car, having a stable relationships. These were things I chased every day. I wanted to define myself in my own way, and all of that became noise, constant pressure.
Along with that came false riches that gave me a sense of security: having savings, buying what I wanted, traveling wherever I pleased, keeping a steady income to cover expenses and emergencies. I felt at peace with what I had achieved. But suddenly, everything I had built, my identity, my accomplishments, my jobs, my savings, was swept away by a storm.
All that remained was the seed. The Word of God. It was the only thing left standing. It was just the Word and me. The noise of the world had vanished: the worries, the pressures, the false identity, my political and fleshly arguments, my logic. Along with them came many wounds that had been hidden for a long time.
But then the seed could finally be treated, nurtured, cultivated, and loved. The Word was no longer something I simply heard; it became something I lived. Through it, I discovered a new life filled with God's love, mercy, and true security.
If you’ve ever struggled with the noise around you, the noise of your mind, your emotions, or the world with its false happiness, freedom, ambitions, and expectations, you're not alone. We've all been there. That noise may never fully disappear, but it can be silenced when we immerse ourselves in the Word of God.
The seed needs quiet. It needs the distractions and worries of this world to fade so it can grow. When we allow the Holy Spirit to soften the hardened soil of our hearts, all the stones of pride are removed. With His grace, He waters our dry places and prepares the ground so that the Word may blossom into true fruit. Without Him, there is no lasting transformation.
Let me put it this way. One animal that beautifully illustrates this truth is the owl. The owl is among the creatures with the sharpest hearing in all creation. It doesn't live near noise because its ability to hear clearly depends on silence. In stillness, it can detect prey, even a small mouse, from more than 75 feet away. We should be like that too. To see and hear the Word of God clearly, we need to step away from what distracts, confuses, burdens, and misguides us. Let's seek spaces where our hearts can become fertile ground, where the seed of the Word can grow as our Savior and Creator desires.
Remember:
It’s not enough to just hear the Word.
We must live it.
We must water it, protect it, and care for it.
What begins as a seed can become a forest
if we don't let the distractions of the world choke it.
REFLECTION:
What worries or distractions are choking the seed of God's Word in my life?
What have I allowed to grow inside me: the fruit of the Spirit or the roots of the world?