Weeds I

“Some seed fell among thorny weeds, but the weeds grew up with it and choked the good plants.”  Luke 8:7 [NCV, emphasis added]

To grow spiritually, the third thing is I Must Be Ruthless With Distraction. Your most important objective in life is to grow spiritually and to become all that God has called you to be . But you cannot be all that God wants you to be, if you do not grow spiritually. If you do not know how to hear God, if you do not talk with the Holy Spirit, you cannot be all that God has called you to be. But there are many things that steal our focus, waste our time, divert our energy, and dampen our zeal. The Bible calls these distractions one-word ‘weeds’. “The thorny ground represents those who hear and accept the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life.  And so they never grow into maturity.”  Luke 8:14 [emphasis added].

So what are the things that choke and crowd out God’s seed in your life? Those things that crowd out the most important things from our lives are ‘weeds’. The soil with weeds equals an overcrowded life. What are those things that are making sure you do not have time to pray, to read your Bible, to fellowship, to worship, and preventing you from having your quiet time with God? What are those things that are preventing you from showing up early in church or at fellowship? That thing is a weed. Sometimes, some of those things are seemingly harmless. Jesus put them in three categories;

#1. The cares of this world; how does my family feed? How do we pay our rent and the children’s school fees? The Bible says, these things choke the life out of the Word.

#2. The deceitfulness of riches; I want to “make it”. There is nothing wrong with paying your bills [and you should pay your bills] and there is nothing wrong with money. But if you allow it, it begins to choke your spiritual life. It becomes a weed.

#3. The pleasures of this world – weed. Your spouse wants to go to fellowship or to give a ‘huge’ sum but you refuse to let go. Why? – t he pleasures of this world. Can you handle his or her carnality if you prevent him or her from growing spiritually?

Prayer: Holy Spirit, help me to identify the weeds in my life and to deal with them ruthlessly, in Jesus Name.