The Parable of the Sower (the sequel)

A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

And then a very strange thing happened.

The rocky ground began to make noise. The large stones and the small pebbles began to cry out to the sower. "You haven't given us enough time!" they said. If only you would put more dark soil around us, our seeds would grow. So the sower went to the store and purchased more soil and placed it around the rocks. Again the seeds immediately sprang up, but it still had no depth of soil, and when the sun rose they were scorched again.

And then another strange thing happened.

The thorns began to make noise. "It's not our fault that the seeds didn't grow" they said. "You planted the wrong kind of seed. The old sower used a 'thorn-friendly' seed, and it grew just fine here." The sower sighed, the thorns continued, "If you'd just plant seed that worked with us, we'd give you a great crop!" So the sower went back to the store and purchased "thorn-friendly" seeds and sowed them among the thorns. But when the seeds began to grow, the thorns grew up and choked them again.

And then the sower realized, he had no more time to tend to the good soil. And the field was lost.

All We Are Saying... Is Give Tim Tebow a Chance!

Tim Tebow started his fourth NFL game yesterday. He’s won two of the four starts. There are some NFL fans who would give an arm and a leg for a starting quarterback who wins 50% of his games (ahem: I’m looking at us, Lion’s fans).

By any measurement, his game yesterday was dismal. He was bad in every aspect of the game. For 55 minutes, he very effectively kept his team from winning. But then, as the clock ran down, he put it together. He rallied his team, and in overtime, they were victorious.

By the only measurement that matters, his game yesterday was 100% effective. As Herman Edwards said, “You play to win the game.” The opponent was bad, the game was certainly not pretty, the defense really deserves a lot of credit; but Denver got the win, and Tebow was their leader!

Yet…

I’ve never heard so many “experts” pile on a player for being “terrible”, than I have heard talking about Tebow last night and this morning.

(Disclaimer: I AM a Broncos fan. I do want Tebow to succeed because I want Denver to succeed; however, I really never cared for him in college)

The talking heads on ESPN have spent most of last night and this morning pontificating on what a terrible game he played, and how this is definitive proof that Tebow will never make it in the NFL. Why?

Why are these guys so quick to denounce a guy who has only played 4 games? Have they forgotten Steve Young’s career in Tampa Bay? Have they forgotten Payton Manning’s first season in Indianapolis? Have they forgotten Doug Flutie and Warren Moon who had to start their careers in Canada? Why is Tim Tebow being written off after four games?

The answer is simple… These guys spent so much time decrying Tebow before he ever entered the league, that if he does succeed they will all be shown to be foolish. No one ever entered the league under more criticism, and so the media experts have never had so much at stake in seeing someone fail.

So what? Why am I writing about this today?

Because I see people make this same mistake in life ALL THE TIME. They make a judgment about another person (often times an unfounded judgment) and then they spend the rest of their lives justifying that judgment. They are absolutely unreasonable in the conclusions they draw, in the way they massage the truth, and in their interpretation of what they observe. Sadly, the result is a steep descent into bitterness, hatred, and eventually depression.

Be careful. Whatever conclusion you reached yesterday may need to be reconsidered today. Remember 1 Corinthians 13. Love hopes all things. Don’t stick people in a box, don’t stick yourself in a box. Give the people who have offended you a chance to surprise you. You may find yourself on the receiving end of a beautiful friendship.

The King Who Brings Freedom Deserves the Throne

(if you know nothing about Lord of the Rings, this post will likely not make any sense to you. Come back tomorrow. If you know a little about it, or have seen the movies, you’ll be okay.)

The final movie of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy is The Return of the King. The movie has about four endings (more if you get the DVD with extras). One of the moments that feels like it is the end of the movie is the coronation of Aragorn as King of Gondor. After three movies of seeing him lead the Men of the West in countless battles and skirmishes, it’s almost a relief to see him finally receive his crown.

Imagine, though, that the movie ended differently. How would you feel about the movie if after he led Rohan to victory at Helm’s Deep, and after he repulsed Sauron’s invading horde, and after he inspired the victory at the gates of Mordor; imagine if after all this, the people of Gondor just asked him to leave.

“Thanks for the work, Aragorn. We’ve decided to just continue being ruled by the house of Denethor.”

Aragorn was the rightful king of Gondor. He was the delivering king who had long been prophesied. He suffered mightily on their behalf, both in battle and in love. How disappointing would it have been, after all he endured to have been denied the throne of the people he had just saved?

That is what we do to Jesus every time we seize control of our lives.

He suffered and died to purchase our freedom. How can we not let him sit on the throne of our lives? How can we not submit our lives to His rule?