Key scripture- “Listen! A farmer decided to sow some grain. As he scattered it across his field, some of it fell on a path, and the birds came and picked it off the hard ground and ate it. Some fell on thin soil with underlying rock. It grew up quickly enough, but soon wilted beneath the hot sun and died because the roots had no nourishment in the shallow soil. Other seeds fell among thorns that shot up and crowded the young plants so that they produced no grain. But some of the seeds fell into good soil and yielded thirty times as much as he had planted—some of it even sixty or a hundred times as much! If you have ears, listen!… The farmer I talked about is anyone who brings God’s message to others, trying to plant good seed within their lives. The hard pathway, where some of the seed fell, represents the hard hearts of some of those who hear God’s message; Satan comes at once to try to make them forget it. The rocky soil represents the hearts of those who hear the message with joy, but, like young plants in such soil, their roots don’t go very deep, and though at first they get along fine, as soon as persecution begins, they wilt. “The thorny ground represents the hearts of people who listen to the Good News and receive it, but all too quickly the attractions of this world and the delights of wealth, and the search for success and lure of nice things come in and crowd out God’s message from their hearts, so that no crop is produced. “But the good soil represents the hearts of those who truly accept God’s message and produce a plentiful harvest for God—thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as was planted in their hearts.” (Mark 4:3-5,7-9,14-20).

This is a story that was told by Jesus, and it is a profound story about life—real life—your life and mine. It boils life down to the four basic responses people have toward spiritual things.

The “seed,” is “The Word” which refers to truth, God’s truth. Truth for living. Life-giving words provided for us by the Lord our God. The Scriptures, yes, but also the insights, the perspective, and the wisdom that grow in us when the seed takes root.

Pastor, Charles Swindol says that, the four different “soils” represent people of all ages and interests and backgrounds who respond to the things of the Lord in various ways. Some listen, then immediately reject—instantly they turn it off. Others hear and seem to enjoy it and even respond well on the surface, but soon spin off when their bubble bursts and the going gets rough. Still others grab hold and initially embrace what they hear, but by and by they get sidetracked as their growth is throttled by life’s “thorns.” Then, as always, there are those who hear, believe, grow, hang in there, and before long begin to reproduce as healthy plants in God’s vineyard.

It’s obvious that the first two groups are those who are not born again. They are rootless, lifeless, and fruitless. It’s obvious that the last group is born-again: submissive, active, and productive. But frankly, I’m bothered by the third group.

They are Christians, because they grow and get right on the verge of bearing fruit, but their growth becomes stale and stalls. These people hear everything the fourth group hears. But those insights and needed truths are never really accepted, never allowed to take root and grow. Why? Because thorns have come in—thorns which suffocate the normal healthy growth of each plant.

Thorns like these trip us up and cause untold misery. They are killers! It is interesting that the thorns were already present at the time the seed entered, and that the thorns were never completely out of the picture even though the seeds began to take root (Mark 4:7).

And what do the thorns represent? Again, we have Jesus’s own words to answer that question. They represent “the worries of the world,” “the deceitfulness of riches,” and “the desires for other things” (4:19). When these thorns enter, spiritual growth and production slip out the rear exit. Our Lord doesn’t say they might cause trouble, nor does He suggest they have been known to hinder us. He says that they . . . enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful (v. 19).

Period. No ifs, ands, or maybes. The thorns are dictators. They know nothing of peaceful coexistence with the life of freedom and victory. Shunning a brash frontal attack, these enemies of our soul employ a more subtle strategy. Slipping under the back door, their long tentacles advance so slowly, so silently, the victim hardly realizes he or she’s being strangled. Demanding first place, they ultimately siphon off every ounce of spiritual interest and emotional energy.

The thorns are always growing, forever aggressive and ready to “choke the word” right out of our minds. Let’s look at each one, and I will show you what I mean.

Are you a compulsive worrier? The term worry is derived from the old German word wurgen, which means “to choke.” Somehow, by extension, the word came to denote “mental strangulation,” and finally to describe the condition of being harrassed with anxiety. All of that and more are in Jesus’s mind as He presents this parable. If entertained, worry trickles through your mind and cuts a deep channel into which other thoughts are drained—good thoughts, God-given thoughts gleaned directly from His Book, and they are eventually strangled out of your mind as worry takes over.

The same is true of “the deceitfulness of riches.” What a consuming passion . . . yet how empty, how unsatisfying. “He who loves money shall never have enough. The foolishness of thinking that wealth brings happiness! The more you have, the more you spend, right up to the limits of your income. So what is the advantage of wealth—except perhaps to watch it as it runs through your fingers” (Ecclesiastes 5:10-11)!

And this third species of thorns is just as bad as the other two—”the desires for other things.” Better think that one through. It’s the picture of discontent, the plague of pursuit: pushing, straining, stretching, relentlessly reaching while our minds become strangled with the lie, “enough just isn’t enough.”

Do you find it next to impossible to be satisfied with your present situation? If so, these words are nothing new to you—you’ve been stuck by those thorns since your soil first received God’s seed . . . and if the truth were known, you inwardly enjoy their presence. After all, it’s risky to abandon your entire life to God by faith. You’d rather worry, possess, and complain, than rest, release, and rejoice, because thorns are a powerful anesthesia.

Why do so many Christians live among thorns like these? Because we have a quiet, respectable, secret love for them. I know. I’ve got the ugly scars to prove it. Each one is a mute reminder of years trapped in the thicket, and periodically I still have to yank a few thorns out.

I’d like to proclaim today as “Thorn Pulling Day”. We may bleed and it may hurt . . . but, oh, the beauty of a thornless day! Will you join me?

Pray this – Our Precious Heavenly Father, I do not want to live with any thorns in my life. I want You to examine my heart and my mind and if I have any of these thorns, “the worries of the world,” “the deceitfulness of riches,” and “the desires for other things” or any potential for these thorns to grow in me, I want You to do what needs to be done to pull it out of me. Holy Spirit cleanse me and protect me from all thorns in my life. I want to stop loving this evil world and all that it offers, because when I love these things I show that I do not really love You; for all these worldly things, these evil desires—worry, envy, complaining, lust, the ambition to buy everything that appeals to me, and the pride that comes from wealth and importance—these are not from God. They are from this evil world itself, and this world is fading away, and these evil, forbidden things will go with it, but whoever keeps doing the will of God will live forever. (1 John 2:15-17). I want Your Word to be able to grow and flourish in me. I want to focus on loving You with all my heart, soul, mind and strength not the things of this world. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

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