Got Any Good Dirt?

Successful gardening depends on good soil, and one of the best ways to improve soil quality is to add organic material (dead and decaying matter). Basically, dead dirt is good dirt.

The Bible says that good soil will produce crops that are thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times what was sown (Mark 4:8). Well, I don’t know about you, but I want my life to be fertile soil that the Lord can use. I want those things that I sow into the Kingdom of God (whether it be one hour or one dollar) to be multiplied a hundred fold. If it all starts with good dirt, then spiritually speaking, how do we know whether we have it -- and if not, how do we get some?

Typically in the natural world, finding a dead body buried in dirt requires forensic techniques such as cadaver-sniffing dogs or ground-penetrating sonar. However, a new technique developed by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology just made the search easier. These scientists have created a simple probe that can be inserted into the ground to find decaying flesh by detecting chemical changes in the dirt.

In the spiritual world, soil is symbolic of our lives. Good soil stands for a noble and good heart, for one who hears the word and retains it (Luke 8:15). However, just like in the natural world, the more death in our dirt, the more fertile it is. The quality of our soil can be tested by using techniques similar to those used by forensic scientists:

1. By Smell: Our lifestyle should be full of praise and worship-- a sacrifice to God. The aroma of it is pleasing to Him (Gen 8:21). How do we smell?
2. By Sound: We are not to let any unwholesome talk come out of our mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs (Eph 4:29). How do we sound?
3. By Changes: We are not to be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind (Rom 12:2). Can changes be detected in us?

If we test our soil and find that it isn’t good, then we need to add some death to it. The Bible says to count ourselves dead to sin but alive in Christ (Rom 6:11). We can improve our dirt by putting to death the misdeeds of our body and our earthly nature such as sexual immorality, impurity, lust, greed, and idolatry (Rom 8:13, Col 3:5). We must die to sin, live in Christ, grow in the knowledge of God, and bear fruit of the Holy Spirit.