The parable of the sower showed that the seed of God's Word is to be sown by people who tell others what God has said. This parable teaches about how God's enemy works. Instead of sowing truth, the devil carefully inserts lies into the vulnerable places of people's minds. The two opposing kinds of seed are often sown over the same time period. However the bad seed, which will stir up wicked desires, is sown when nobody is aware.
 
Jesus was preparing His trainee apostles to understand the dynamics of the spiritual battle which surrounds gospel proclamation. They were inexperienced but were not to be naive. The work of the truth-sower will always be countered by the lies-sower. Satan is most active when we do not think he is there, or when we have assumed that only truth is being sown, or when we are so preoccupied by what we are doing that we have not noticed the gaps in our spiritual defences.
 
There will be little immediate evidence of evil activity. The seeds of error are so small as to be unnoticed. Satan does not make much fuss or create too much disturbance, and yet the seeds of rebellion are ready to spring into life later, attempting to choke the truth of God's Word. The apostles would need to be on their guard so that the early growth of the church would not be followed by disintegration as evil took hold within groups of believers (Acts 20:29-31); effectively making them incapable of growing as distinctive Christ-like communities, and stopping them from encouraging others to receive Christ too.
 
Alas, many believing parents are naive. They assume that because they are sowing God's Word into their children's hearts, the Evil One will not sow rebellion as well. He will do whatever he can to prevent the truth taking root and love to encourage 'spiritual competition'. The effect of evil activity may not be seen until much later; so be on your guard and help your family to recognise the signs of untrue thoughts and the power they promise. It is time to do some serious weeding. As signs of rebellion arise in our hearts, identify them for what they are and root them out (Romans 6:13; 7:13). New believers will have much joy, but will also need to review what they previously thought to be a 'normal' lifestyle, to make it conform with what pleases the Lord (2 Corinthians 10:5).