Bad Dirt 3

Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.

Matthew 13:7
The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

Matthew 13:22

The third of the soils that is mentioned in Matthew 13 is the soil that received the seed, but the things in his life took over & choked out the growth of that seed. It says that this person is a "keeping up with the Jones'" person. We all know that feeling… we've probably all been there in our lives, I want a car like so & so, a house like so & so. We never seem happy no matter what we have, it's never enough, and we want more. That seems to be the way of the world now more than ever. If we don't have it & can't afford it then we just… charge it. We find ourselves in debt up to our eyeballs & miserable, our joy stripped away from us. We loose focus on God & we turn our focus on our possessions & positions. The more you have the more worries you have. The more you have the more you have to earn… I should know I'm now working on getting out of that debt trap.

There's another point in this verse. We've all heard "For money is the root of all evil" this verse has to be one of the most misquoted verses in the Bible. The actual verse in 1st Timothy 6:10, says, "For the love of money is the root of all evil". It's not the money itself, but the love of it. "The deceitfulness of wealth" is what chocked out the growth of the fruit. A great man named Adrian Rogers once said that, “if you want to fight worldly sin, strengthen your faith”. Focus more on God, His' word & speaking with Him in prayer. The old hymn says, " Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, & the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory & grace". When we focus on Christ, we see that our worldly possessions & positions are worthless; there are more important things in life. Unless we turn from those things we will not be able to bear the fruit God wants us to.

There are only two things that will last forever, people & Truth. Focus your life on winning them.

Vern