Mark 4: Living to Your Fullest Potential

Mark 4 introduces us to the story of the man spreading seed. Each seed produces a different result, with the application being that those who hear the message of God each respond in different ways.

Throughout the history of the church, interpreters have attempted to categorize each of the four types of seed as to whether it referred to someone who was really a Christian or not.

This misses the point.

The point Jesus wants us to see is that only one response is pleasing to him. He shares, “Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

We are not called to just get by; we are called to go all out. Our goal is a hundred times what we have received. The apostles needed this explained to them. Clearly, many of us who call ourselves Christians today do as well.

Wasting our lives on video games, countless hours of television, excessive shopping, or excessive anything distracts from living to the potential God has called us to reach. We are not saved to sit and soak in the presence of the Son as one preacher once put it; we are called to serve.

All that to say, if you don’t feel you’re living to your fullest potential in following Jesus, serve. “Produce a crop” and see what God does in and through you today.

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Dillon Burroughs has written, co-written, or edited over 60 books, including the upcoming devotional work Thirst No More (October 2011). He served as an associate editor for The Apologetics Study Bible for Students and is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary. Find out more at DillonBurroughs.org.