A Word from God's Word

“And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.”

Matthew 13:7

WE CONTINUE THIS WEEK to consider the “Parable of the Sower" in Matthew 13. Previously, we looked at the first two types of soil: the hardened soil of the pathway and the stony soil. And today: the thorny soil.

The thorns of this soil represent an especially dangerous and insidious issue for the one receiving the word, for Jesus tells us in verse 22, “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.” The “cares of this world” are all those things in life, which may in themselves be good things, good gifts from God—leisure, money, careers—but our desire for them entangles us as they become idols, squeezing God out of our lives. And here, preventing us from receiving the word.

Therefore, in the parable, the seed (God’s word, the gospel) falls on this soil, and initially seems to do well. A plant may spring forth, but the weeds and thorns “choke” it out, and the plant withers and dies. And again, the insidious nature of the “cares of this world” is such that they can do their work, drawing us away, without us even realizing it is happening. Instead, we must beware of these “thorns” and thereby hear, receive, and cling to God’s life-giving word, His glorious gospel of life in Christ.

Pastor Craig publishes  "A Word from God's Word" weekly in the "Kootenay News Advertiser".