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Matthew 13:22

(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.
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Here we see a picture of seed being sown in a field that is plowed but not weeded. This represents a person hearing God's Word, but then that Word is allowed to be pushed out by the cares with which he is involved.

All of us during our time in God's church have known of some who have left the church. One man decided it was more important not to pay his taxes and to fight that crusade than it was to stay in God's church. So he left, and his pursuit actually smothered him. Jesus says that the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches "choke." The Greek word for choke means "to smother." When a person is smothered, oxygen begins to leave the brain, and soon one cannot function or even think.

We live in the "end of the age." At this tumultuous time, we have the accompanying pressures - and the "escapes" from those pressures - all around! This world is designed by Satan. This end time is designed to produce brain failure where God is concerned!

We had an old man in the Garden Grove church, a fine man. Every time someone would leave the church, he would ask, "Why did so-and-so leave the church?" The minister, for a while, thought that he was simply being nosy. But the old man replied, "No, I just wanted to find out why they left so I will not make the same mistake."

A very good friend, a "brother" with whom I had "sweet counsel" together for many a year, transferred back East to work in a large mine. He was promoted and continued to advance in the company. Soon thereafter, the company became more important than the church - and he left it!

Two great mental assassins prowl around in our day. The first is being heavily in debt. Sometimes that just happens and one cannot help it. The second is the entertainment industry. One causes constant worry of how one will pay the bills, and the other leads one to wrong thoughts, actions, and principles because these are constantly offered to us as entertainment.

Commentator Adam Clarke writes:

Man is anxious over worldly cares with the delusive hopes and promises of riches. This causes man to abandon the great concerns of the soul and seek in their place what he shall eat, what he shall drink, and wherewithal he shall be clothed. It is the dreadful stupidity of man thus to barter spiritual for temporal good - a heavenly inheritance for an empty portion.

This, of course, should make us think of Matthew 6:33 - "Seek first the Kingdom of God." If there is ever a Bible passage that directs us to keep our lives simple, this is it!

— John O. Reid

To learn more, see:
Don't Take God for Granted