Key Verse: Luke 8:15 “But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.”

Hear. Retain. Produce. That’s what “noble and good hearts” do. The object of hearing and retaining  is the Word of God (v.11). And “fruit” is the result.

What kind of fruit? Well, Jesus doesn’t say. What He does say is that the fruit produced represents “a hundred times more than was sown” (v. 8). We’re talking a 10,000 percent increase here! Pretty intimidating. Especially if we think of a single seed as one soul won to Christ. Is Jesus suggesting we’re to reproduce ourselves 100 times? What about those of us who’ve won maybe one or two people to the Lord in our entire lives? What about those who’ve yet to lead their first soul to Christ?

Before you’re overcome with a performance-anxiety attack, let’s think it through. Fruitfulness in the Bible is never described only in soul-winning terms. In fact, the apostle Paul talks of it in terms of “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…”, the “fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22,23). Fruit, then, refers to the general quality, as well as the quantity, of your life. If we’re producing peace, joy, or goodness among our neighbours, we’re fruitful. If we’re leading a neighbour or two to the Lord, as well, then that’s fruitfulness, too. Indeed, if we’re brining our heavenly Father some joy, I daresay that’s fruitfulness as well.

The key is to be fruitful rather than parasitical. Be an extension of God’s love for the world. do this, and you’ll be one of those with “a noble and good heart”.