Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Mark 4: 18-19 (NIV)
Through the parable of the sower Jesus gives four scenarios of what can happen when we hear his word. For some, it falls on the path and is gone almost immediately as Satan snatches it away. A second group – where the seed falls on rocky places – receive it with joy, but only for a short time before trouble or persecution comes because of the word. It doesn’t stay long enough to take root. A third group, which we will focus on in this blog, hear the word but three things choke it out of their lives and there is no fruit.
Compared with the first two scenarios, it seems like the third group – where the word is sown among thorns – hold onto it for a bit longer and that it takes some sort of root, which is a good thing. However, they allow three things to uproot it from their lives:
- The worries of this life – these people allow their worries to take precedent over God’s word. Maybe they spend more time meditating on their concerns, attributing more opportunities for worry to exert influence over their lives than God. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by tests and challenges but when these become bigger than God in our minds and hearts, we can lose the capacity to hold onto the very word that can set us free.
- The deceitfulness of wealth – some people allow themselves to be tricked by wealth, prioritising this above the word of God. They are so interested in pursuing riches that there is little time for it to take proper root in their lives. This group place much value on worldly wealth, ‘which is so uncertain’ (1 Timothy 6: 17). In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus made it clear that there are different kinds of treasures: ‘Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’ The heart of the people in this group are deceived by wealth rather than captivated by God’s word.
- The desire for other things – some people allow their lusts of other things to crowd God out of their lives. They are willing to make time for these things, but not to give enough time for God’s word to take root.
So, because of the worries of life, deceitfulness of wealth and the lust for other things, this third group allow ‘…stress [to] strangle what they have heard, and nothing comes of it.’ (MSG). There is no fruit.
‘But the seed planted in good earth represents those who hear the Word, embrace it and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams.’ Mark 4: 20 (MSG).
The last group produce thirty, sixty, a hundred times what was sown. Why? Because they hear the word and act on it. They don’t allow stress, the pursuit of wealth or other things to take such a priority in their lives that there is no space for God’s word to take root and flourish. They create an environment for it to be planted, blossom and bear fruit. There are different ways that we can do this. It might mean reading a few verses of the Bible each day over and over again and taking some time to reflect on what God might want us to do. It might mean meditating on some verses related to a particular anxiety in our life and thinking about it until God’s word chokes out the worry, rather than the other way round. However we choose to embrace the Bible, it does mean creating time and space in our days to hear/ read it, understand and apply it. The other groups didn’t allow enough time for God’s word to take proper root and so they ended up with no fruit.
With so many things battling for our attention it’s not always easy to prioritise hearing or reading God’s word regularly. It may take multiple attempts to build up a healthy rhythm to incorporate it into our lives but keep trying – it’s worth it. God brings peace, hope and freedom through it, transforming us to look more like him. There is also clearly a connection between what we do with God’s word and our level of fruitfulness. The last group mentioned in this passage took a hold of it and produced ‘a harvest beyond their wildest dreams’. May we do the same.
Pause: Think about a time when you heard or read God’s word and it fell on good soil – you embraced it and put it into action.
Reflect: Are there things in your life that are crowding out God’s word?
Rise: Identify some space in your life where you can spend more time allowing God’s word to take root so you can act on it and be fruitful.
Italics added.