Good Soil produces good fruit, but what about the parables of the sower? Matthew 13.1. In that day, after He left the house, Y’shua was sitting by the lake: 2. and immense crowds were gathered to Him, so that He got in a boat and sat down, and the entire crowd stood on the shore. 3. And He told them many things in parables saying, “Behold the sower of the seed came out to sow. 4. And while he was sowing some indeed fell by the way, and when the birds came they devoured them. 5. But some fell upon the rocky ground where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up right away because it had no depth of soil: 6. and when the sun rose it was burned, and because it did not have a root it was withered. 7. But some fell upon thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them. 8. But some fell upon good ground, and gave fruit, on the one hand a hundred times, on another sixty, and another thirty. 9. The one who has ears must listen continually.”
Matthew 13:18. “Therefore you must now hear the parable of the sower. 19. For everyone who hears the message of the kingdom and does not understand, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart, this one is what is sown by the way. 20. And the one sown upon the stony ground, this is the one who hears the message and immediately takes it with joy, 21. but it does not have a root in itself, but it is temporary, and when affliction or persecution comes because of the message, he is immediately caused to fall away. 22. And the one sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the message, and the anxiety of the age and the deceitfulness of wealth (Matt. 6:24) choke the message and it becomes useless. 23. And the one sown upon the good ground, this is the one who hears the message and understands, who indeed bears fruit and makes on the one hand one hundred times, and on another sixty and another thirty.”
Matthew 7:16. “You will recognize people by their fruit. Does anyone gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?[1] 17. In this way every good tree produces good fruit, but the rotten tree produces evil fruit. 18. A good tree is not able to produce evil fruit, nor a rotten tree to produce good fruit. 19. Every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into a fire. 20. Consequently you will indeed know them on account of their fruit.”
Since it takes good soil to produce good fruit, how can a person be made good soil? A person’s fruit being recognized means that what you do counts, relating to your bearing, dress, countenance, reactions to various surprises; virtually everything you do and say. All those things shape your character, your visible fruit. So, both good and bad things determine the quality of your fruit. Everything you think, say, and do counts. The important thing is to learn from your mistakes, to continually strive to become better. So far the earth has seen only one perfect person, Y’shua, so the rest of humanity is working on it, but like David we have to determine to get there, as David said in Psalm 19:15 The words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart will be acceptable in Your sight, LORD*, my Rock and my Redeemer. When your thoughts and words line up with God, your actions will too. Your reactions to surprises, when you do not have time to reflect, reveal your true fruit. Thus, anger is a real test for all. Everything you do counts, so doing good things improves your fruit. Although you are not saved by good deeds, you do those things because you are saved, walking in the Spirit.
Going through tough times, overcoming obstacles builds character, giving you high quality fruit. What you have been through and are now going through are the things that build the quality of your soil. An example from the world is one I witnessed in the 1970s when we built a new home in the country. We had horses so I built a temporary shed for shelter until I could afford to build a barn. I cleared a half acre of the sandy land in the sand hills of South Carolina for the corral by the shed. Each week for two years the sand was roto-tilled to bury the manure, then after two years the barn was built and a new corral fenced by the barn. The old corral was planted, with that sand now rich soil, growing the biggest, sweetest cantaloupes I had ever seen. All the vegetables grown were astonishing for size and quality. So, if you are going through stuff now, be assured that while you persevere you will in the end be good soil, producing wonderful fruit.
[1] (v.16) The Greek construction shows that a negative response is anticipated.