Thorns

April 7

Deuteronomy 11-12

Psalm 41:7-13

Proverbs 10:18-21

Luke 8:1-18

Thorns

“Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.”  Luke 8:7, 14 NIV

Jesus often used parables to teach difficult concepts.  He used things they were familiar with, that they were around every day to help them understand deep, spiritual matters.  Although the story itself is easy to understand, there were often hidden meanings in His words.  Those who were sincere and were seeking spiritual understanding would be able to figure them out, but those who were not seeking would not understand His meaning.  This is one of the few parables that Jesus explained to His disciples. The seed is the Word of God.  This could take many forms.  It could be a sermon, a Bible study, a song, a book or meditating on scripture.  We are fortunate today to have an abundance of avenues to receive God’s Word.  The question is what we do with it after we have heard it.  Unfortunately, I think many of us allow God’s Word to fall among the thorns.  We go to church, attend Bible studies, listen to Christian radio, but then we go on our way allowing worries, fears, busyness, etc. to keep us from applying its truths.   Those things are not necessarily bad.  We can so fill our time with activity, even good activity, that we have no time left to seek God.  We never mature in our faith because we never allow the truths of God’s Word to make a difference in our lives.  There is no change in our hearts.  We let the truths go in one ear and out the other.  We have good intentions, but then we get busy and forget what we heard.  Ask God to show you the thorns in your life that need to be removed so that you can mature and develop into the person He wants you to be.