Personal Assessment Time
theophilus January 30th, 2008
It seems like there are thousands of tests on the web – assessing our IQ, our relationships, our career, and so on.
In today’s gospel (Mark 4), we get to take an assessment to measure our faith. In the gospel reading, Christ is telling the parable of the sown seed.
So let’s ask ourselves, what happens to us when we hear the Word? Are we the one’s who:
1. allow the seed to be sown on “the path” – so that as soon as we hear it, “Satan comes at once and takes away the word sown in them.”?
2. allow the seed to be sown on “rocky ground” – so that when we hear the word, we “receive it once with joy” but we have “no roots” so we “last only for a time” and then “when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,” we ”quickly fall away.”?
3. allow the seed to be sown “among thorns” – so that we are “the people who hear the word, but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches, and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word, and it bears no fruit.”?
4. allow the seed to be sown on “rich soil” – so that we “hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”?
We are all called to be #4. To hear the Word and allow it to sink into our very being – guiding our every thought and action. Getting us to grow more in love with Christ and our neighbor – and to be of purposeful service to him and the people around us.
But, we are human – we sin – we forget – we let the “world” interfere and we end up closer to #2 or #3. We try to let the word take root but then we do face adversity or distractions – and then “tribulations and persecutions”, ”wordly anxiety”, the “lure of riches” and “the craving for other things” get in our way. Next thing we know, we’ve neglected our relationship with Christ – we’ve forgotten about our life-purpose – we’ve stopped living the way God intends for us.
Lent is a week away. It’s going to be a great time to assess where we are at in our relationship with Christ. And what we need to do to provide the rich soil so that the seed can grow and bear fruit.
God has provided us all rich soil in our lives. He wants the seed to grow. But, we also have free will – and the thorns, rocks and hard soil that comes with it. God has also provided us with the ability to enrich the soil in our lives, even if our ground is a worn-out path. It’s up to us to decide that we will cultivate our lives and provide good ground for Christ to work in our lives.
So, take the test before Ash Wednesday - focus on your relationship with Christ during Lent – take it again after Easter. See how much you have grown.
