Luke 8:13 "Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have not root. They beleive for a while but in the time of testing they fall away."

Matthew 13:5-6 "Some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root."

 This rocky soil heard the word, just like the path in verse 12, but it also understood and received it. Yet why did these plants fall away so fast?

They lacked a root. The plant was imbalanced, it had grown quickly and had much to show for on the outside, but underneath the soil it had small and fragile roots. It had nothing to support the quickly growing plant. When the sun came out, though the sun was supposed to be good for the plants and cause more growth, they withered under its oppresion, they "withered because they had no moisture" (8:6). How could they get any moisture when the rocks were blocking the root from growth?

It's amazing how much a trial can reveal about a person. Outwardly, everything may look like it's going okay, growth is occuring, maybe even at a fast rate. But when hard things come my way, it will quickly show the condition of my root system. I need a source of constant strength (or moisture) or else I will quickly fall. If I am letting rocks grow in my heart that are preventing me from becoming rooted and receiving nourishment, when tribulations come, even though they are supposed to be beneficial for me, causing growth, I will quickly topple over from malnourishment. How could it ever bear fruit with such a root system?

Psalm 1:3 describes the godly man, "He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields it's fruit in season and whose leaf does not whither. Whatever he does prospers."

I must constantly press to draw from the "streams of water," looking to God for my source of strength so that I will have the stability to grow and mature when trials come instead of toppling over from weak roots. My goal for today is to spend time this evening in prayer and the Word to strengthen my root system and receive spiritual nourishment so that I will better equipped.

Luke 8:11-12 "'This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they may not beleive and be saved.

"The seed is the Word of God..." Like the seed has the power to be planted, grow, and produce a harvest, so the Word of God has the same power in our lives. Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

But for a seed to prudence a harvest it must be sown, retained, rooted, and matured before it bears fruit. It doesn't just happen on its own but requires constant care and continual perseverance to see a harvest.

"Those along the path are the ones who hear..." The path. How can seed grow on a path? The path is hard, always being walked over, the seed never having the means to grow as it is kicked around and eventually snatched away. They only hear, they do not retain. But how can they retain if their hearts are hard and closed to understanding, the seed has no where to go, but is taken away, unable to have any effect in a heart. Jesus describes many who heard his parables a few verses before (Luke 8:10), "though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand."

James 1:22-25 says, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in the mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does."

The heart that only listens cannot produce a harvest. Psalms 95:8 says, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts..." I cannot merely hear the conviction of the Lord and not act on it. Today during On the Mount my goal is to listen to the things he brings to mind and set a plan of how to put them into action.

James 3:17 "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and 
sincere."

"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." (II Timothy 4:3)

"Always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth." (II Timothy 3:7)

This is how Paul describes those who will turn away from God. They will surround themselves with lies "to suit their own desires." They will use darkness to hide the truth about their sin because they "...love darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." (John 3:19).

But here we see the products of a heavenly wisdom. This wisdom comes, not from feeding our fleshly desires but from surrendering them, believing the truth, holding our hearts to the revealing light which casts out self. Then, instead of jealousy, selfish ambition, disorder, and every other evil practice that rules a heart seeking worldy wisdom, there is peace loving, submission, mercy, good fruit, impartiality, and sincerity.

These attributes are absolutely not a product of selfish desires. They are from a humble heart who has believed the truth of God's Word and held his life to the revealing light.

This wisdom is, before anything else, pure. It is without worldy blemish and selfish motive. It is the result of God's truth cleansing a heart.

The results of this wisdom are beautiful. They are freeing. No more living in a place of darkness, for fear of what the light reveals. No more confusion of warring desires. No more of self which must constantly be feed, comforted, filled, built up, hidden, defended.

Freedom from self is freedom to live for God. Free to fulfill our ultimate purpose of bowing humbly before the Lord in worship.

And this freedom will be evident in "deeds done in humility": peace-loving, consideration, submission, fullness of mercy and good fruit, impartiality, and sincerity. The wisdom that is truly from God is based on truth. Acceptance of God's truth casts out the self and the lies of the world's wisdom. And there is freedom to live for God.

Jesus said (John 8:31), "...If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

James 3:16 "For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice."

Disorder in purpose, disorder in truth, disorder in unity. These are three things that come to mind as I consider the results of the world's wisdom reigning in a life.

Disorder in purpose. A.W. Tozer said, "God is trying to call us back to that for which He created us, to worship Him and to enjoy Him forever." Since the fall, there has been this ongoing war, this inner turmoil in the human soul between fulfilling his ultimate purpose in creating us or chasing the wisdom of this world. Our default mode is to act on our selfish desires, yet there is still this longing, this "God shaped vaccuum," as Blaise Pascal refers to it, that leaves us restless and wandering, drawing us to God. It is never fully satisfied with anything but God. This is a confusion of desires - the pull between living for self, or bowing in humility before God.

Disorder in truth. Even after a heart separated from God repents, the wisdom of this world still seeks to entice. It is loud and deceiving and it promises happiness to those who rebel against God, to whose who place themselves in control, stiffnnecked against God, refusing to bow before him. Daily it seeks to distract me from my purpose. The lies of this worldly wisdom enter my mind creating confusion. "You will never find victory," "It isn't worth it," "Go ahead, take some glory for yourself." All these things try to convince me to revert back to the life of self, the life of misery, striving to do what I can't do on my own, seeking fullfillment but never finding. I am torn and must remind myself again of Hebrews 12, "...let us throw off everything that entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross..."

Disorder in unity. As Roy Hession puts it, "...the thing in us that reacts so sharply to another's selfishness and pride is simply our own selfishness and pride which we are unwilling to sacrafice." As i feed the selfish ambition in my heart, it brings disunity, because suddenly, I am not looking our for the bodh, but am looking out for myself. Fellowship and harmony are ruined, not only between myself and other members of the body but also between myself and God. Paul instructs the Phillipines (Phil 2), "...make my joy complete by being likeminded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humiltiy consider others better than yourselves." Unity in the body of Christ has no room for selfish ambition.

James 3:15 "Such 'wisdom' does not come from above but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil."

Where there is selfish ambition and bitter envy it is not from God, it has no part with God. There is no reason to boast or lie to ourselves about selfish ambition and bitter envy because it's origin: earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. These three things are all the time pulling at, tempting, seeking to draw my away from the Lord who is the Light - the world, the flesh, the devil. This is darkness.

The true wisdom that comes from God results in "deeds done in humility" (verse 13). Humility, the emptiness of self and the filling of God. God is where self is not. Darkness and light cannot coexist. As James says only a few versees before, "Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?" (Verse 11). If I keep these selfish ambitions in my heart, pushing them back deep inside where I even forget about them, because of the lies I tell myself, 'that is exceptable, that sin doesn't exist in me, this is not really sin,' those places will not see the the light of Christ. Ignoring the darkness will for sure not bring light.

Think about heat and cold. Cold is not really a thing in and of itself, it is only the absence of heat. Likewise with light and darkness. Darkness is only the absence of light. Darkness cannot kick out the light, it can only exist where the light is not. Just the same, where I do not lay down and surrender my life to the light of the scriptures, the darkness of bitter envy and selfish ambition are free to exist.

"If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

Thankfully, light has the power to kick out darkness.

Today i will spend time reading in the book of I John, asking God to expose sin and make me willing to confess and repent of all that he shows me.

James 3:14 "But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth."

But what if it is instead bitter envy and selfish ambition harboring in my heart instead of the wisdom that comes from God, the wisdom that produces a lifestyle of humility?

Both of these characteristics, bitter envy and selfish ambition root from a proud heart, the opposite of humility. Selfish ambition: seeking owns own, not caring for the interest of others, promoting and taking glory in self, these are obviously contrary to the humble attitude which lives without rights, in submission and service to God and others. And then bitter envy: jealousy of another's accomplishments, dispising the fact that they are not your own, this to is of course, pride. As C.S. Lewis says, "...Pride is essentially competitive - is competitive by its very nature... Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man."

What is to be done when these things are found in the recesses of our hearts, harboring, allowed to remain, left alone? Certainly not boasting or denying the truth. But in my life, these are the two easiest responses to sin, especially the kind that I don't feel like dealing with, the kind that I push to the back of my mind, letting it harbor there. And how do I excuse it? Exactly as this passage instructs against. I have found myself making light of the sin, and I have found myself refusing to acknowledge the truth, that it is indeed sin.

1 John 1:6-7 says, "If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." My goal for today is to acknowledge and write down the sins that I have allowed to harbor in my heart on a daily basis. Then bring them to the light by confessing them to the Lord. 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." Also I will find someone to pray with me, confessing sin, because as James 5:16 says," Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

James 3:13 "Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom."

In the first twelve verses of chapter three, James writes emphasizing the importance of keeping the tongue under control, lamenting it frequent misuse. "...no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison (James 3:8)." Then in verse thirteen: "Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show..." Why speak? Show.

When I think of a person who is wise, I think of someone with experience, not one with mere knowledge. A wise man will not flaunt his experiences nor does he feel the need to loudly assert his opinions on others. He uses discretion when making decisions. The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about a wise man and the tongue. "When words are many sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise (Proverbs 10:19)." And again, "A prudent  man keeps his knowledge to himself, but the heart of fools blurts out folly (Proverbs 12:23)."

James himself emphasizes in the beginning of his letter, "...Everyone should become quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow go become angry (James 1:19)." Words are not needed to show true wisdom, it is shown by lifestyle. There is power in a person who leads by his example, by doing over saying, letter his actions prove his wisdom rather than letting his words destroy it.

True wisdom will prove itself. "Let him show by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom." Humility is the fruit that comes from wisdom. Humility does not seek it's own good, but the good of others. Therefore a wise man's words will not be said to build himself up or accomplish his own agenda. His words will not need to be many. The truly wise man will prove his wisdom by his life lived in humiltiy and service.

Today i will ask God for his wisdom. "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt... (James 1:5-6)." I will strive today for humility in conversation, seeking to build others up with my words instead of using them to accomplish my own selfish agenda