Matthew 13:1-23
Be Still: Holy Spirit, help me become aware of the quiet things you are doing in me. Still my heart. Attune my spirit to your gentle voice. Amen.
Read: Matthew 13:1-23
He told them another parable: 'The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches. He told them still another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.' (vv31–33)
Encounter: This is one of Jesus' most sobering teachings. After confronting the Pharisees about their hardened hearts, he shares a parable about a person set free from an unclean spirit – but left empty. The spirit leaves…but nothing fills the space. No new devotion. No new direction. No new allegiance. And that emptiness becomes an invitation, a vacuum that draws the enemy back with even greater force.
Jesus is teaching something key here – deliverance without discipleship leads to disaster. Freedom without formation doesn’t last. A clean house without a new occupant is still unprotected.
An empty soul is a vulnerable soul. We think the greatest danger to our spiritual life is sin, attack, temptation. But Jesus warns of something even subtler – emptiness, a life swept clean but not surrendered; tidy but not transformed.
Sometimes people try to remove the bad without embracing the good. They stop certain habits, apologise for certain behaviours, let go of certain attitudes…but they never fill the space with prayer, Scripture, worship, community, obedience, and intimacy with Jesus.
This passage is not a threat – it is an invitation. Jesus isn’t satisfied with you merely being free. He wants you filled with his Spirit, his presence, his joy, his power, and his Word. He doesn’t just clean the house; he moves in to occupy. And once he fills you, the enemy loses access to the space Jesus now owns.
Apply: Where might God be working quietly in you right now?
A subtle desire for Scripture
A softened response where there used to be hardness
A new tenderness or compassion
Dallas Willard teaches that the most significant transformation God does in our lives begins in the hidden places long before anyone else notices.** Like bread dough, you don’t see the transformation immediately – but it’s happening. Ask him today: Lord, what hidden work are you doing in me right now?
Devote: Jesus, thank you that your Kingdom grows in me even when I cannot see it. Form my heart in the hidden places. Give me faith to trust your quiet work and patience to wait for what you are growing.
*Wright, Nicholas Thomas. Surprised by hope: Rethinking heaven, the resurrection, and the mission of the church. Zondervan, 2008.
**Willard, Dallas. Hearing God: Developing a conversational relationship with God. InterVarsity Press, 2024.
Willard, Dallas. Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ. NavPress, 2021.