We have talked about two other “soils” that have been unfruitful, yet there is one more. The thorny ground. The mental picture I get is one of walking through the woods at my dad’s and constantly have to watch for briars and thorns intermingled with the occasional little green plant. They are somewhat hidden and you don’t realize you are tangled up in them until your ankle is bleeding or when you walk through your trail using your hand to move a small branch out of your pathway and you get a little prick on the end of that tender spot of your finger! Ouch! Those two, little instances can sometimes be the worst pain!
Well, that’s how the thorny ground is that Jesus talks about in Mark 4:7/18-19. The thorns are the things of this world that seem to choke out the Word of God in our lives. Of course, we love Jesus! But we also can get caught up in the love of money, fame, pride, worries and the desires of this world! When those things creep in, like thorns, they choke out the growth that is waiting to happen in our hearts and lives. The devil is quite good at making sin look appealing, isn’t he? He sometimes manages to mask it as something good for us, so that is why it is so important to test everything that comes across our pathway with a little outstretched spiritual arm to make sure we aren’t running into “thorny ground”. If we get pricked a little, maybe we need to turn around and try a different path. I have seen in my own life and in the lives of others that we often go down paths not designed for us and then we are choked out by the thorny soil in which we are trying to plant roots. That’s some of the worst pain…knowing you have good roots yet realizing you let the “thorns” of this world take over your spirit. That stings deep.
As I was sitting here typing this out, I am evaluating my own desires and making sure that if there is something within my life that is trying to take root among thorns, that I will pull up my roots and keep searching for good soil. In Matthew it says, seek first the kingdom of God…and I believe if we are doing that, we won’t be so quick to let our seed fall into thorny ground. We are in the world, but we do not have to be OF it. If you are a child of God, you will look different, you will be set apart and you will not allow the desires of this world to choke out the seed you sow.
This world has nothing for us, friends. Don’t get caught up in the thorns…you are a beautiful rose, waiting to bloom in bountiful blessings!
