Hearts of the Hearers
The Savior’s Parable of the Sower at the Thirteenth of Matthew illustrates varied responses to the Gospel based upon varied conditions of the heart. While those who lack understanding, or whose interest is shallow, or who are encumbered with worldliness will fail to bear spiritual fruit, those who hear and understand the word in the absence of spiritual hindrance will prove to be spiritually prosperous; yet the same seed of the Gospel was sown in all cases. God told Moses that Pharaoh’s heart would be hardened to the Divine demand to release Israel from Egypt, though he would eventually relent in the wake of devastating plagues. As the same sun that melts ice cream also hardens clay into bricks, so does the message of the Word either soften or harden the hearts of the hearers.
Written by David Hayes Prophater