“These have no root.” — Luke 8:13
My soul, examine thyself this morning by the light of this text. Thou hast received the word with joy; thy feelings have been stirred and a lively
impression has been made; but, remember, that to receive the word in the
ear is one thing, and to receive Jesus into thy very soul is quite
another;superficial feeling is often joined to inward hardness of heart, and a lively impression of the word is not always a lasting one. In the parable,
the seed in one case fell upon ground having a rocky bottom, covered over
with a thin layer of earth; when the seed began to take root, its downward
growth was hindered by the hard stone and therefore it spent its strength
in pushing its green shoot aloft as high as it could, but having no inward
moisture derived from root nourishment, it withered away. Is this my
case?