Teacher Tips and Tidbits: Planting Seeds of Bible Truths

It's no secret that I love teaching in a Christian school. One of my favorite aspects of that is when the students really "get" a Biblical truth. We studied the Parable of the Sower found in Matthew 13. To help my students understand and visualize how our attitude and our heart can affect how we apply God's Word, we planted seeds.

First, Jesus told about the hard ground. This represents a heart and attitude that is not ready to received God's messages. The birds {Satan} came and stole the seeds {God's messages} away. So we planted some seeds in "hard ground," aka an empty plastic tube. We watered them each day. Just as you would suspect, nothing happened.

Next, Jesus told about the ground that was full of rocks. The seeds grew a little, but the rocks prevented them from growing very big. At first, we may be ready to hear and act upon God's messages. But over time, we allow things to come into our lives to take the place of what is most important. We planted some seeds in dirt that was mixed with marbles {our rocks}. With the same watering each day, the seeds grew a little. But the sprouts did not seem healthy and strong.

Jesus also talked about the ground that was full of thorns. The thorns choke out the seed's growth and prevent them from being healthy. The students started discussing what things they could let take the place of having an attitude that is ready for God's Word. I was blown away by their depth of thought and how they were really taking the lesson to heart. "Sometimes I think getting my own way is more important than being kind." "When my mom reminds me to not be selfish with my money, I get mad because I want to buy some candy." Wow - my list could go on and on. We only had three tubes, so we did not plant seeds in the thorny ground. But you can only imagine how that would have turned out.

Finally, Jesus talked about the seeds that were planted in the rich soil that was ready for new life. Of course, these seeds flourished, and their plants grew big and strong. So we planted some seeds in plain potting soil, nothing to interfere or get in the way. The students were amazed to come into class after the weekend to see how much those seeds had grown. The only difference from the others was what was in the soil.