“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 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. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Gospel of Matthew
Dr. David Burns wrote a popular book called "Feeling Good". In this book, Dr. Burns identifies many ways of thinking that lead to depression or not feeling good about oneself. The first and foremost erroneous way is dichotomous thinking, or "all or nothing" thinking.
A prominent politician who losses the race as a member of the legislature feels like a big zero. He did not win. A straight "A" student who gets a "B" on an exam concludes - now I'm a total failure. A mother whose child gets into trouble at school thinks - what a lousy mother I must be - despite the fact she is generous and loving to her children.
This way of evaluating things is unrealistic because life is rarely completely either one way or the other. For example, no one is absolutely brilliant or totally stupid. No one is either completely attractive or totally ugly. Look at the floor of your bedroom. Is it perfectly clean? Is every inch piled high with dust and dirt? Or is it partially clean? Absolutes do not exist in this universe on the natural scale. It you try to force your experiences into absolutes, you will likely be depressed because our perceptions will not conform to reality. You will never measure up to your exaggerated expectations.
Often times, we may be guilty of applying this "all or nothing" thinking to scripture, or exaggerate our expectations in how we are to respond to God. I can't be a very good Christian because I mess up on so many opportunities in giving witness to God.
In Matthew's Gospel about the parable of the seeds, Jesus is telling us about the sower and how this sower scatters His seeds. Some fell on the edge of the path and the birds ate them up. Some fell in the rocks where they could not take root. Some fell on shallow soil, sprouted and died because they were scorched by the sun. Some fell into thorns but were chocked out. But some fell on rich soil, and produced a great crop.
What I've discovered is that I possess, within my own human condition, each of the circumstances described above. I see that most others have them as well. There seems to be some places where God's seeds really struggle to grow, but in other places, they seem to flourish. Does this make me a bad Christian? Of course not. We must keep in mind that the sower is God, and He is very generous in spreading His seeds. He throws them everywhere. Where they cannot take root in me, they can more easily take root in someone else. It's together that God's work can be done. It never can or will depend on me alone.
It's good for us to recognize this because it helps us realize we are not an entity unto ourselves. We need each other in order that your strength may complement my weakness, and my strength may complement your weakness. That's what church is. People using their gifts and working with others to make God's Kingdom visible. If we do this, we have no reason to feel that we're a big zero, a failure, or a bad Christian. We can live with the true reality that each of us possesses the rich soil that can lead to an abundant harvest. Let's work together and see what happens.
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