The good news of Jesus that changes a person’s eternity also transforms a person’s earthly life. It’s impressive to see what God can do when a person’s life is founded on what Jesus has done.

But there are some things that work against God’s work. In the parable of the sower, Jesus illustrated how it’s like a farmer who sowed seed across various types of soil.

Some seed fell along a path and was eaten by birds. When you don’t address your spiritual doubts and misunderstandings, it leaves you vulnerable to the enemy.

Some seed fell on rocky soil and didn’t last very long in the sun. When you expect God to work only through good things, your faith will shrivel up at the first sign of trouble.

Some seed fell among thorns and was choked out. When the worries of life and the lies of wealth have your full attention, there’s no space for God to create new fruit in you.

The point of Jesus’ parable is that when your life isn’t transformed the way it could be, that’s your cue to mind your own dirt humbly. Look for the things in your own heart that have been robbing you of the fruit that God wants to produce in you. And know that with him it’s not only repentance for the past. There’s still a miracle crop he wants to produce in you: “This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown” (Matthew 13:23).