Cultivating Character

Stages of Character Development A 6 stage cycle for character development is revealed when the parable of the sower is combined with other farming or planting metaphors and similes found in the Bible that are used to explain spiritual development. This blog post briefly summarizes the process by breaking down the combined metaphors and similes into 3 components: the vehicle in Figure 1 is the biological life cycle of a plant,  the tenor or topic in Figure 2 are corresponding Biblical symbols  and Figure 3 the practical application.   Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Stage 1: Soil Biological: Soil provides anchorage for plant roots and holds water and nutrients essential for plant growth. Soil condition is important to the growth of healthy plants, therefore cultivators make sure that the soil is suitable before sowing seeds. Biblical: Soil represents the heart. In the parable of the sower, found in Matthew 13, four types of soil conditions are described: roadside, thorny,...