Are you Believing?

Our family has a Bible study every Tuesday night here at our house with a few other families and we just finished up going through the book of Galatians. This week my Dad just talked about a short passage in Luke. We were also looking at the parable of the sower in morning devotions the other day.

Luke 14:25
25. And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,.....

Notice something usually passed by in the above verse. "And there went great multitudes". The word multitudes it used, a plural word. This means that there were more than one group of people. What were these people? The first group would have consisted of the Pharisees. These people were trying to find something wrong with Jesus, trying to find something to accuse him of. These men were jealous and selfish. They wanted all the attention that Jesus was getting. The second group of people were people along for the ride. They may have been on their way to town when they saw all the people. Perhaps that day had been a long boring day and they were ready for some adventure. They had heard about this man and were ready to see some miracles, anything to break up the monotony of life. The third group was believers. This group of believers can also be split up into two groups. The first group were people who kinda believed, but weren't believing with their whole heart. They were willing to believe to get insurance that they would get to heaven or they maybe wanted to believe so they could see some miracles. The second group of believers was the believers we think of today. These were the people who believed in God with their whole heart. They were willing to risk their lives for Christ. They truly believed that He was the Son of God.

Luke 8:5-15
5. "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up.
6. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture.
7. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants.
8. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown."When he said this, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
9. His disciples asked him what this parable meant.
10. He said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.
11. "This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.
12. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
13. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.
14. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.
15. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

When we read this passage, I noticed how well it went with what we had been talking about the evening before. Here there are four different groups of people. There is the group that won't belive. They have hardened their hearts to God. There is the group that believes for a little while, but it never takes root in their heart. These may be young believers that are not exhorted and taught in the ways of God. There is the group that believes, but the stuff of life gets in the way. They believe, but throw it away to pick up something else new. Then there is the group that believes and matures. They are the true believers, the ones who truly love God.

The question this poses: Which group are you in? Are you a believer? If so, which kind? Are you halfhearted? Or do you believe with you whole heart?

I pray that you may be encouraged by this and that you can search your heart to see if you are being the person Christ wants you to be.

Your sister in Christ,
~Bethany~