Sunday, March 24, 2013

Among Thorns

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A seed among thorns.

That's me.

I tend to skip over the parables in the Bible, as if I don't need to be taught any lessons. But this morning the lesson jumped right off the page.

The seed (the word of God) that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. (Luke 8:14)

Choked by life's worries, riches, and pleasures. That's what jumped out at me.

I want my life to produce a crop for the Lord. I want my days to matter. I want the point of my life to be to point to him. In everything. I want to get this living backwards thing right. Jesus first. All else second. And I do believe my heart is in the right place. I have good intentions. But then I get choked by life. And instead of producing a crop, I am merely a seed among thorns.

I have already shared my hope that our new move produces a new movement in our family.  Less space for us to fill up with worldly clutter, hopefully equals more room for God to work in our lives. Less places our money needs to be spent (just to make ends meet), hopefully equals more to give away. Less of being in the world, hopefully equals more of the world seeing God in us. That is my hope. Those are my intentions.

But then I get caught up in the worries. What if our current house does not sell? What if the world doesn't understand what we are trying to do? And I get caught up in the worldly riches and pleasures. Like paint samples, and designing a beautiful space in my mind. Light gray walls with cherry, turquoise and lemon accents would look nice, I really do think. And our table might not fit, so perhaps we should get a new one. And if our house does sell and we are able to create a new budget, how fun to be able to purchase all of the pleasures I see in my Pinterest dreams!

And just like that I get choked up, all thoughts of less of me and more of God gone. All thoughts of more to give away gone. And we are back to the old way of life. Fitting Christ in around the edges of our very American lives, instead of fitting our lives around him. A seed among thorns.

But praise God the story does not end there. The last part of the parable gives us the key to being successful at producing a plentiful crop.

Perseverance.

Though the world will forever try and choke us with its worries, and its riches, and its pleasures, we can persevere. We must persevere. Because Christ did not come so that we could remain the same. He came so that we would have the chance to change. The continued chance to produce a plentiful crop.

Because of Christ, we do not have to remain a seed among thorns.

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