Mark 4:5

LACKING DEPTH

‘And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth.’

Mark 4:5

I. The beautiful exterior.—How many are there in the world of the class represented in the text! There is much about them, like the earth, which is good; much that appears to bear the stamp of Divine grace. We see an amiable temper, a sweet, natural disposition, a love of good things. This is the earth. Beneath the gilding, so lovely and attractive, there is concealed the stone. This is the true character of the heart, not the beautiful exterior. It is the ‘stony heart’ still—the old heart under a new covering.

II. The hidden stone.—And what is another phase of the stony heart? The seed falls and springs up quickly, but cannot take root, because of the hidden stone that hinders it. So it is with many. The seed falls, but what hinders it from taking root? Some stone of secret sin lodged in the heart. There is the secret lust the heart cannot renounce, some grasping covetousness it cannot give up, some carnal affection it cannot mortify, or some inveterate habit it is unwilling to overcome. These are the stones in many a heart. Man may not see them, but God does.

III. God requires depth in our religion.—It should grow where man sees it not. It should be casting its roots within the veil. On what depends the strength, the beauty, and the fruit of the tree? On its hidden roots. So with the Christian. What he is outwardly will depend on his hidden life before God. This is what we want now.

—Rev. F. Whitfield.

Illustrations

(1) ‘See that noble ship riding on the waves. Her yards are right, her canvas is spread, and there is a favourable breeze. Why sails she not out of the harbour? Why heaves she so restlessly on the waters? Down deep in the water, and concealed from every eye, is the anchor. This holds her fast. What avail favouring tides and breezes? Nothing whatever. Cut off the anchor, and then, with God’s breath helping her, she may move on. So it is with many a soul. There they are from year to year, and never move one step heavenward. The same in youth, the same in manhood, the same in hoar hairs. Why are they not in the race? Why still lagging behind in the world of sin and death? Ah, down deep in the muddy streams of the deceitful heart there lies the anchor of secret sin, holding fast the noble vessel that should be freighted with God’s glory and on its way to Canaan.’

(2) ‘The age we live in is a very superficial one. We live in a day when men can be Christians one day, and anything the next; when men can talk of the deep things of God in one breath, and the things of the world in the next; when the great aim of the many is just to save their character; to go with the worldling or the infidel up to that point. To advance beyond would stake their Christian reputation, otherwise they would soon do even that. It is an easy, indulgent, self-loving, half-hearted Christianity that surrounds us. The religion of the many is in the head and on the tongue, far more than in the heart.’