Choked by Thorns

 

    

    

Matt 13:6-7

 

  7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.

NKJ

 

When the seeds of the Word of God are going forth, today's verses describe a common condition.  To be really  honest, this is probably the hazard that could most threaten my own personal walk.  What does this verse mean?  According to Jesus,

 

22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. (Matt 13:22)

 

 

 

Can you relate as well?  I am not really tempted by riches.  My problem lies more in allowing the cares of this life to choke out my fruitfulness.  A demanding job, kids,  an incessantly ringing phone, bills,  all of this can definitely act as briars in our lives. All of  these distractions can cause us to lose our focus.   We can find ourselves attending to the urgent, but not the important, needs in our life.

 

I grew up on a farm.  I was blessed to enjoy many blackberry cobblers.  Delicious- and with the added bonus of turning your teeth blue!  Pretty cool when you are a kid.  I loved going "blackberry-picking".  Country folks know that the delicious fruit of wild blackberries actually comes off of a briar.  That's right.  A prickly, sticky briar can produce delicious fruit.  Why does this matter?  Because we need to understand that just because something seems good and is producing some fruit, does not necessarily mean that it is a good thing.  The test of whether or not the fruit is wholesome or a nuisance lies in recognizing its impact in your overall fruitfulness.

 

Baking cupcakes as the homeroom mom is a good thing.  If it keeps you from spending time in prayer and Bible study, it may be a briar.  Enjoying fishing is a good thing.  If it keeps you out of church, it is a briar.  Singing in the choir is a good thing.  If you are doing it to get attention, yep- it could be a briar.

 

We cannot allow anything, anything, to choke out the fruitfulness of the Word of God in our lives.  Jesus must come first.  Everything else is briars.  We can cut the briars back, keep it off the garden and have our blackberries, too!  But when the vine chokes out our fruitfulness, the time has come to do some pruning.  And sometimes, the briars simply  have to be uprooted to protect the whole garden.

 

Are you bearing fruit? Is time in prayer and the Word a priority?  Are good things- maybe even ministry- choking the life out of your vine?  If so, call on the Master Gardener and He will prune you back to health.

 

Dear Lord, thank you for the simplicity of your Word- simplicity because you reveal it to me and enable me to understand it.  Help me to apply today's word.   Show me the true vines from the briars.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.