I remember the day Carolyn and I brought home our newborn son from the hospital. He was our first child, and was born three days prior to that day of departure to take him home. I had a mixture of emotions that included, first, a feeling of overwhelming love that I had for this little one who, though only in my life for three days, had completely stolen my heart. But I have to admit that there was also more than a little fear and uncertainty present for Carolyn and I had never been parents before. I felt as though we were imposters only pretending to be parents, for we had never had the charge of one so small and so innocent. I wondered how we could possibly handle this great responsibility.

 

As it turns out, we did just fine. We made a number of mistakes to be sure, but we always seemed to overcome those mistakes, both through prayer and the grace of God. Not once do I remember either of us ever wanting to just turn our son over to another who might be able to raise him better. Though there were many who had more financial means to provide our son with what he needed, and there were for sure those who had much more experience in child raising than we did, there could simply never be anyone who would love him more than we did.

 

And that turned out to be the key!

 

Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

Matthew 13:8, NIV 

 

As you enter the third day of your 30 day commitment to read through the New Testament, you may have similar emotions towards reading the Word of God as did my wife and I with our new baby. You might feel as though you are not up to the task. You will think there are others more capable and more experienced than you who should be telling you what to do with God's commands. You might even feel like an imposter, just pretending to be a Bible student.

 

But, you would be wrong. God has given you the responsibility to work out your own salvation, (Philippians 2:2). As you continue this quest to find out God's will, it is important to keep that responsibility in mind. It is also important to remember that He did not tell you to work our your own plan of salvation - He took care of the plan already. But he has commanded that you take charge of your own salvation, and take that responsibility we must!

 

But you don't have to worry. What we read in Matthew about the good soil producing a good crop was true. Jesus even told us why as recorded by Luke:

 

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.

Luke 8:15, NIV

 

You will be fruitful in your attempt to find out God's will if you have a good heart. For as Jesus further revealed, the seed is the Word of God - it is always good and always capable of producing a yield of righteousness. All it needs to grow is good soil, and Jesus tells us that the soil is the heart of the hearer. It just needs to be good and noble.

 

When you think about it, that is the key to raising our children in the right way. Despite our complete lack of experience, we love our child and are willing to find out how to raise them just right. And, we love God! If your heart is noble - if it is sincere and determined - you will find that you are not an imposter playing a game. Instead you are a child of God who wants to find out His will because you love Him just as He first loved you. We are going to Heaven if our hearts are right before God and we are willing to match the intentions of our hearts with the deeds that befit a noble servant of God. But before we can do what He says to do, we must first find out what He said. This is why we are reading!

 

Today's reading is taken from Matthew chapters 15-21. May God continue to richly bless your journey!