By Todd Barrier  

Last week we began a series focusing on “The Parable of the Sower” from Matthew 13. In week one we took a look at the “wayside” soil.  

This week we look at the second type of soil Jesus teaches us about. I like to call it the “Rocky Road” soil. 

In Matthew 13:5-6, Jesus says, “Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth, and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away.”  

We also learned last week that Jesus explains what each soil really means.  

A few verses down in Matthew 13:20-21 Jesus says, “He who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.” 

The birds in the wayside soil are like the distractions in our life; the stony soil, or “rocky road” soil, could be the same thing.  

We hear the word and we take it in. We get excited about it, and we are ready to be the kind of people Jesus wants us to be!  

Then something happens, or something else catches our attention. We never let the word take root in our lives, and now that it’s time to live that different life, the word doesn’t guide us because we didn’t let the roots take hold.  

Rocky Road is a great ice cream, but it’s a lousy soil.  

What kinds of things are preventing God’s word from taking root in your life?  

Next week we will look at what I call the “UFC Soil.“