撒种人和种子
马可福音四章1至9节
1耶稣又在海边教训人。有许多人到他那里聚集，他只得上船坐下。船在海里，众人都靠近海，站在岸上。
2耶稣就用比喻教训他们许多道理。在教训之间，对他们说：
3“你们听啊！有一个撒种的出去撒种。
4撒的时候，有落在路旁的，飞鸟来吃尽了；
5有落在土浅石头地上的，土既不深，发苗最快，
6日头出来一晒，因为没有根，就枯干了；
7有落在荆棘里的，荆棘长起来，把它挤住了，就不结实；
8又有落在好土里的，就发生长大，结实有三十倍的，有六十倍的，有一百倍的。”
9又说：“有耳可听的，就应当听！”
信息分享
若要农作物丰收，农夫就必须辛勤作工。首先要在合适的时间，勤奋撒种。他要一大清早起来，作好一切准备，定意要撒完当天的种才离开。他要仰赖泥土带来丰收，相信他所撒的种子终有一天会结出果实，即使有可能他人收割获利。
保罗深明撒种的重要，他也有同样的负担和信心。他曾经说过：「若不传福音，我便有祸了……若不甘心，责任却已经托付我了。」（林前九16）我们是否有这种催逼感，要随时随地去撒种呢？
农人知道他必须撒种。他要全心全意去完成这项工作，顾不得双脚踏在湿滑的泥土上面，既肮脏又不舒服，也要把种子撒完才回家。为了撒种，他甘愿付出离家的代价。
基督的仆人是否晓得撒种的重要性呢？有些时候，撒种的工作好像永远做不完。禾场太大，工人太少。然而，我们若要为基督赢得更多灵魂，在福音的工作上获得丰收，就必须完成撒种的工作。
神呼召我们作甚么呢？就是撒种。传道书十一章6节给我们一个很好的提醒：「早晨要撒你的种，晚上也不要歇你的手，因为你不知道哪一样发旺。」
THE-SOWER AND THE SEED
Mark 4:1-9
1 And again He began to teach by the sea. And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea.
2 Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching:
3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow.
4 And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it.
5 Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth.
6 But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away.
7 And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.
8 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
9 And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Message
It would not be easy work but if there is going to be a harvest, someone has to pay the price of sowing the seed. It must be sown while the opportunity is there. The farmer had left home that morning with one purpose in mind. He would stay on that field until the sowing was completed. That man was claiming a harvest from the soil. He had faith that what he sowed would one day bring fruit even if someone else would see it and reap the benefit of it.
Paul knew that same urgency, that same burden, that same faith. He said: 'Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel... I am compelled to preach'. (1 Corinthians 9:16) Do we ourselves know anything of this compulsion - to sow the seed wherever we can?
The farmer knew the burden of the task as well as the burden of the seed. He had one purpose in mind - to stay on the job until the work was completed. His feet became dirty walking in the loose soil. What did it matter? This was the task for which he had left his home behind.
How often have servants of Christ known the burden of the task of sowing! Sometimes the task has seemed endless, the field so big, the labourers so few. Yet the sowing must be done if ever there is to be a harvest of souls won for Christ.
What has God called us to do? To sow the seed. Ecclesiastes 11:7 is a good reminder for us all: 'Sow your seed in the morning and at the evening... for you do not know which will succeed'.