“Parched land” is a harsh but accurate term, describing a place where nothing can grow or be built. The “world”—men and women who have no personal knowledge of or relation to Jesus Christ—is indeed a land that has become barren (fruitless), overgrown with material, psychological, and ideological weeds that choke out life. This is indeed a tragic waste, a matter of deep heartache. The church, by way of contrast, should be a land flowing with milk and honey, and especially with the fruit of the Spirit.