March 29

“These are such as in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it fast and bring forth fruit with patience.” Luke 8:15

The question has been raised, how do you reconcile God’s requirements of “an honest and good heart” with the statement that “the heart is deceitful above all things”? But the point in the parable of the sower is not that the man who receives the Word is a perfectly honest man in God’s eyes, but that he is honest toward God. Whatever is in his heart, he is prepared to come to God frankly and openly with it. It is possible for a man with a deceitful nature to turn honestly to God.

This is what God seeks in men, and something of this meaning is contained in the Lord’s promise to “show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” The basic condition of a sinner’s salvation is not belief, but just this honesty of heart toward God. God requires nothing of him but that he come in that attitude. Into that spot of straightforwardness that lies in the midst of much deceit, the good seed falls and brings forth fruit.