Joyfully Passionate for Christ

         Have you had your Joy Juice today?  The best batches are found when we dig deep into the fruitful places of our heart.

            We’ve talked this week about the wisdom that is packed into the short parable that Jesus told about the “Four Soils”.  We know that when Jesus referred to the hard ground, He was warning against a hard heart.

      Let’s talk for a few moments about the shallow soil…or the “Shallow Soul” as John Ortberg likes to call it.  The parable says that some of the seed fell on rocky soil.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that there was a bunch of rocks piled up there….but perhaps only a thin/shallow layer of topsoil with solid rock underneath.  The seed had life until the sun came out.  But then the plant withered quickly because the soil was too shallow for roots.  How does that apply to our souls?

      Richard Foster said, “Superficiality is the curse of our age.” The desperate need of our soul is really not to have more stuff, more talent or to be more successful by the world’s standards.  What we NEED is spiritual depth. Oh, to be just as passionate as the Psalmist who sincerely wrote: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God” (Psalm 42:1) We need a deep, abiding relationship with the Lord.

      Let’s not be shallow and superficial in our faith.  Allow God to prepare your heart & soul with much love & joy in the Lord.