How Fertile is the Soil of Your Relationships?

How we relate to one another may determine how fertile the soil is for the seeds of the gospel. Shallow relationships may not allow for the roots of the message of Jesus to run deep. As Jesus explained it in Matthew 13:5-6, because there was no “depth of soil,” there was “no root” and the gospel message “withered away (NASB).”

In gardening, to create fertile soil, the dirt must be deeply tilled, fertilized, and watered to nurture deep roots that sustain the plants. Likewise, fertile relationships require going deep, nurturing it with fertile conversations and watering it with living water. It is as much living out our faith with compassion as it is speaking it.

Nurturing deeply rooted relationships takes time, yet it is how fertile soil is created for the message of Jesus. God has placed certain people in your life at this moment and equipped you to minister to them. Those deeply rooted relationships are better able to survive the scorching heat of trials because their roots run deep (Matthew 13:6). Take time today to seek God’s wisdom on who He wants you to invest your time in.

And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.” – Matthew 13:8-9, NASB