Summer Weeds by rogojel at www.freeimages.com
Homework, softball, soccer, basketball, 4H, Boy Scouts, Girl scouts, tennis camp, piano classes and the list goes on-and-on of activities of our kids today.
Adults are not much better. We have housework, yard work, community service clubs, shopping, Facebook, golf, sporting events, TV shows, and Crossfit.
We are so busy! An herein lies one of the Devil’s greatest weapons on our souls!
Jesus in speaking about the plant amongst the thorns said this, “but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word and it proves unfruitful” (Mark 4:19). This verse screams at our generation. This is why the church across America is struggling with involvement and workers. It is the reason we don’t know the Bible as well as previous generations. It is the reason we are not as close to Jesus and struggle with apathy and worldliness.
We are choking our spiritual lives because we do not have the nutrients of the Word of God. Why do we not? Because we are feasting on the cares of the world and have desire for other things!
Notice Jesus did not say that our desire is for “sinful” things. He says “other” things. The enemy of the best is often the good! What we are chasing and spending our time upon may not be sinful. It may even be good and wholesome, but it still takes our time, energy, and devotion. It still prevents us from taking in the Word.
The end result of our misplaced desires is unfruitfulness. We still exist. We may still have faith and live in the church, but we are unfruitful. We are not living up to our potential in Christ, because we have an inadequate diet.
So we must curb our desires, so we don’t get choked! Most all of us struggle with this at some level. We must constantly be assessing our schedules and time management to see if we are choking out God!
