Excerpted From
Thirty Virtues That Build a Man
By Vince Miller
RECEPTIVITY
A man is vulnerable to truth.
Begin:
A man of God is receptive to God’s truth over a lifetime.
“And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, ‘A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.’ As he said these things, he called out, ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear.’ And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.’” (Luke 8:4–15)
Unpack:
* What is the one task you had to do last week that you were unreceptive to doing?
* What about the task, or you, made it objectionable?
Inform:
* Read the text and make observations.
* How many soils are in the text?
* What are the characteristics of each?
* What does the “soil” represent?
Land:
* Which soil do you represent? One or many? In what areas are you more receptive to the truth?
* What issues do you need to address?
* What steps do you need to take?
Do:
* Ask someone to evaluate your receptivity.
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Excerpted from Thirty Virtues That Build a Man: A Conversational Guide for Mentoring Any Man by Vince Miller. Copyright © 2018 Equip Press.
