When these passages speak of those who fall away quickly, they describe them as having “no root in themselves.”
I assume that this means something like having no testimony, or, at least, having an inadequate testimony.
We should always be working strengthen our personal convictions, to send our roots deeper into the soil. It surprises me — it surprised me as a bishop — to see how many people fail to do that, for lengthy (and often lethal) periods.
I’m struck by the sad comment in Luke 8:14, about those whose “fruit does not mature.”
Tragic, really.
But, by contrast (8:15), those who remain faithful, “hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.”
Patience, I think, is absolutely key.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In