What the Bible says about Taking No Root
(From Forerunner Commentary)
The stony ground represents those who hear the gospel and feel titillated by its truth. Though their senses are excited, they have no depth of understanding'no rich soil in which it may take root and grow. While suffering anxiety from sin, they respond to the attractive offer of God's mercy. The truth offers them peace of mind, pardon from sin, and salvation with eternal life. Believing they are forgiven, their anxieties seem to disappear, and temporary peace and happiness fill their lives, but they have no foundation upon which to support permanent joy. Their gladness soon subsides, as does their desire to live righteously. They begin to fade from God's truth because they have no real appreciation for Christ's sacrifice or the conviction to resist temptation or to endure trial and persecution. Because they exhibit no true repentance, it becomes evident that they are not true Christians. Excited, human emotion carries them for a time, but it cannot sustain them through the long process of conversion.
Martin G. Collins
Parables of Matthew 13 (Part Two): The Parable of the Sower