Anyone who’s found more abundant life through Christ naturally wants others to experience that blessing. So the question repeatedly arises, what’s the best way to grow the knowledge of God’s love and healing power?
In what’s sometimes called “the parable of the soils,” Jesus describes the poor results of scattering seed in soil that can’t sustain it. It’s good to be thoughtful about when and how to share God’s word. It may be even more important to tend the soil of our own thoughts well so the sharing we do results in good fruit.
In 1916 a Christian Science church in California asked a young member named Julian Alco to begin work as a chaplain in the large state prison at San Quentin, work he was already doing at other city and county institutions. He was eager to do it, but prison officials rejected his application. He could only have ordinary visiting privileges—one inmate a week for 30 minutes—even though as many as 50 men were requesting to meet with him.
