经文：那些……没有根。（路加福音8：13）

我的心哪！今晨要用这经句的亮光检查一下。你已经快乐地接受了主的话，并且大受感动；但是，要记清楚，耳中听受主话是一件事，心中真正接受耶稣又是一件事；有时表面的情感虽很热烈，而内心却实在刚硬，叫人感动的话语并不一定能持久。

在这个比喻里，被撒在石头地上的种子，上面仅有一层薄土；当种子发芽的时候，往下扎根受到硬石的阻挡，于是便倾全力尽量往上发芽，但是因为没有使它取得水分和养料的根，所以就枯干了。

这是我的情形吗？我在肉身方面表现得异常茁壮美观，而内心的生活是否能赶得上呢？要长得好必须同时往上也往下生长才行。

我的信心和爱心是否在耶稣身上扎根呢？若是我的心不受恩典的耕耘和培养，好种子虽或发长一时，但终必枯萎，因为在石头上，在未被耕碎、没有成圣的心上是不能发旺生长的。

让我不要做一个长得又好看又迅速而不耐久的约拿的蓖麻；让我付出代价做跟随耶稣的人，最要紧的是叫我得到圣灵的大能，那么我心中就有了常存而持久的种子了。若我的心仍像我的本性那样刚硬，日头一晒，我的硬心也必帮着发出热度烤炙着埋藏不深的种子，不久我所信的就消灭了，我必大失所望。因此，天上的撒种者啊！求你先耕耘我，再把你的真理撒下，好让我为你结出许多子粒来。

主说：“离了我，你们就不能作什么。”（原译者添加）

Scripture: “These have no root.”(Luke 8:13)

My soul, examine thyself this morning by the light of this text. Thou hast received the word with joy; thy feelings have been stirred and a lively impression has been made; but, remember, that to receive the word in the ear is one thing, and to receive Jesus into thy very soul is quite another; superficial feeling is often joined to inward hardness of heart, and a lively impression of the word is not always a lasting one. In the parable, the seed in one case fell upon ground having a rocky bottom, covered over with a thin layer of earth; when the seed began to take root, its downward growth was hindered by the hard stone and therefore it spent its strength in pushing its green shoot aloft as high as it could, but having no inward moisture derived from root nourishment, it withered away. Is this my case? Have I been making a fair show in the flesh without having a corresponding inner life? Good growth takes place upwards and downwards at the same time. Am I rooted in sincere fidelity and love to Jesus? If my heart remains unsoftened and unfertilized by grace, the good seed may germinate for a season, but it must ultimately wither, for it cannot flourish on a rocky, unbroken, unsanctified heart. Let me dread a godliness as rapid in growth and as wanting in endurance as Jonah’s gourd; let me count the cost of being a follower of Jesus, above all let me feel the energy of his Holy Spirit, and then I shall possess an abiding and enduring seed in my soul. If my mind remains as obdurate as it was by nature, the sun of trial will scorch, and my hard heart will help to cast the heat the more terribly upon the ill-covered seed, and my religion will soon die, and my despair will be terrible; therefore, O heavenly Sower, plough me first, and then cast the truth into me, and let me yield thee a bounteous harvest.