Weeding Out the Thorns

Scripture Reading - Luke 8:4-15 "And when much people were gathered together , and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable: A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed , some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down , and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up , it withered away , because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it , and choked it.
And other fell on good ground, and sprang up , and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried , He that hath ears to hear , let him hear . And his disciples asked him, saying , What might this parable be ? And he said , Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see , and hearing they might not understand . Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear ; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved . They on the rock are they, which, when they hear , receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe , and in time of temptation fall away . And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard , go forth , and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection . But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience."

I want you to think of the word "thorns" in the above passage as being anything that distracts us from God. When we want other things equal to or more than we want God then we definitely have thorns in the soil of our heart. These thorns are usually thought of as being bad things, sins that we have in our lives that keep our minds from focusing on God. But, there are things that are very good things that can distract us away from God just as effectively as those bad sinful things. Consider the following areas that potentially can distract us from God; the pursuit of money, favorite sports teams, your children's sports teams, golf, commitments to family and church, your job. Each one of these areas of our lives are not bad in themselves, and can be a vital part of our lives, if they are not allowed to distract our focus from God. Take a moment to examine what distracts you from God. List these things on a piece of paper, then pray over them, asking God to help you to not allow these areas of your life to distract you from Him. I have talked to countless people and everyone seems to wish they had more time to pray, read their Bible, do things for God, etc. We have 24 hours in a day, that is all. We do what we choose to do with the time we have. Therein lies the problem. We sometimes (or should I say, most of the time) desire other things more than God. We let the thorns grow in our soil and before long they choke out the truth (Word of God) that God wishes to apply in our lives. Do not let that happen. Seek Him first, pursue after Him. Let your total focus be on Him, and watch and see how much more satisfying our lives become. Matt. 6:33 says,"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Do you believe the Word of God, do you trust it? Is it true? Is this meant for us to practice or did Jesus just suggest these thoughts to us, giving us the option of practicing these principles. Is the Word of God optional?

Be Blessed and Live in the NOW!!!