Distractions

Mark 4:^18-19 “The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced.” (emphasis added).

The first distraction that jumps at us from the anchor scripture is worry—the worries of this life. The antidote to worry is prayer. Philippians 4:⁶ “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything….” Many of us would be spending a lot of hours praying if we want to convert all our worries to prayer, and that would be a good thing. The second distraction that jumps at us from the anchor scripture is the lure of wealth. When we look at the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12:13-21, it is clear that there is a difference between accumulating and growing. There is a difference between setting out to accumulate and setting out to grow.

They may appear to produce the same result; your wealth appears to be increasing. But when you are just accumulating, you are drawing the judgment of Heaven. Whereas, when you are growing, your wealth is also increasing but it is as a result of growth, and it is being deployed for consistent growth. So, there is a difference between accumulating and growing. Sometimes, we fool ourselves into thinking that we are growing because we are accumulating. You can be accumulating and not growing. You can be accumulating and yet your soul is malnourished, and your personal growth is zero. The third distraction we see in the anchor scripture is the desire for other things, the desire for “nice” things. After reading this scripture, I had to say to the Lord, “Is there something wrong with wanting to have nice things – a nice house, nice car, just have nice things?” And I am not even going to say that it is the desire for it that is bad or not. God is saying the desire for nice things will choke out the great things that He is doing in your life. Now, the understanding I got when I engaged and asked this question was this. Look at the birds of the air, they don’t toil, they don’t sow or reap. Yet your Father feeds them and none of them falls to the ground. Are you not more important than these? I immediately remembered Matthew 6.

Look at the lilies in the field, see how they are adorned, and how God pays attention to the details of their beauty. In answering my question, God was saying to me, seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things that the world seeks—the selfie-takers, content makers, and celebrities seek will be added to you. So, even though you have so many nice things, they mean nothing to you. What matters to you is the pursuit of God and the expansion of the Kingdom.

Prayer: Father, help me to seek You and Your Kingdom first in all things, in Jesus Name. Amen!