Morning, January 11

Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings

"These have no root."

  Luke 8:13

   My soul, examine thyself this morning by the light of this text. Thou
   hast received the word with joy; thy feelings have been stirred and a
   lively impression has been made; but, remember, that to receive the
   word in the ear is one thing, and to receive Jesus into thy very soul
   is quite another; superficial feeling is often joined to inward
   hardness of heart, and a lively impression of the word is not always a
   lasting one. In the parable, the seed in one case fell upon ground
   having a rocky bottom, covered over with a thin layer of earth; when
   the seed began to take root, its downward growth was hindered by the
   hard stone and therefore it spent its strength in pushing its green
   shoot aloft as high as it could, but having no inward moisture derived
   from root nourishment, it withered away. Is this my case? Have I been
   making a fair show in the flesh without having a corresponding inner
   life? Good growth takes place upwards and downwards at the same time.
   Am I rooted in sincere fidelity and love to Jesus? If my heart remains
   unsoftened and unfertilized by grace, the good seed may germinate for a
   season, but it must ultimately wither, for it cannot flourish on a
   rocky, unbroken, unsanctified heart. Let me dread a godliness as rapid
   in growth and as wanting in endurance as Jonah's gourd; let me count
   the cost of being a follower of Jesus, above all let me feel the energy
   of his Holy Spirit, and then I shall possess an abiding and enduring
   seed in my soul. If my mind remains as obdurate as it was by nature,
   the sun of trial will scorch, and my hard heart will help to cast the
   heat the more terribly upon the ill-covered seed, and my religion will
   soon die, and my despair will be terrible; therefore, O heavenly Sower,
   plough me first, and then cast the truth into me, and let me yield thee
   a bounteous harvest.