Day 54: Thorns

Matthew 13:1-23; Leviticus 17-18; Proverbs 27:13-27; Proverbs 28

I think one of the most common faith situations in the country right now is the seeds falling among thorn bushes.  People, often young people, say they are into faith, they want to believe in Jesus, and maybe they even accept him as Lord of their life, but they live in situations that choke their faith.  They choose to stay where they were before and their friends, lifestyle, choices, all hinder their spiritual growth.  Another common situation, as God knew there would be, is the seeds scorched by the sun.  People just have a hard time enduring the struggles in life and it makes them feel that they cannot believe.  Now, I know I speak out of ignorance in that area—I don’t know what it is like to really struggle, but considering how the divorce rate is climbing, people do not endure.  I suppose that all the New Age religions, which I think could be represented by the birds in the story, are also really prevalent.  So, all that being said, the whole story is totally relevant in every way, as Jesus intended that it should be.

I think it is really interesting the explanation of why Jesus uses stories.  It is because if you tell people flat out what is expected, required, desired, or needed from or for them, they won’t listen.  But, Jesus explains all those things using a story, people listen and remember the story and eventually the heart of it gets to them. Those that hear the word, produce even more than what was sewn—that is the power of the Holy Spirit.

In these passages it talks about immorality. The sexual immorality causes the society to become disgusting to God.  It becomes “sick”—and I’m assuming that means diseased.  I think about all the sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, etc., and it is no wonder that God warns against sexual immorality.  And God cannot stand the prayers of anyone who disobeys his Law or does immoral things.  When I pray, I need to be sincere and willing to change my broken ways.  If I confess what is in my heart and truly choose to turn from it, God will hear and I know he will help.  But, if I just go through the motions, that is not pleasing to The Lord. He wants are devotion from the core of our being.  So much of the word is about caring for others.  Sometimes I lack patience in loving on others and I struggle with sin.  I often do not treat people or even my own husband with the kindness and gentleness that they need and deserve.  God wants people how love him whole heartedly and run from the immorality and sin in their lives. This is kind of like the seeds: people may want to follow Jesus, but they are choked out by all the sin. We have got to get out of the thorns!

So much of this Proverb talks about living right, not taking shortcuts, and treating people the right way.  People’s lives would be so much better if they did these things!