"But the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful." (Mark 4:19)
How true!!
What a struggle it is, especially in our material world to make God's word become fruitful in our lives.
Each day I start out strong...determined to be faithful and diligent in my pursuit of the Lord...yet so many things want to come in and choke out that good seed that has been planted. Things like:
*The worries of this life - there seems to be so many!!
I spend a significant amount of time letting all the 'what ifs' knock around in my head and eventually it makes me start to question God's plan. "what if I'm wrong...what if I get hurt again...what if I fail..."
*the deceitfulness of wealth - money issues in general can easily choke out God's word from our lives.
It it just amazes me how deceitful something made out of paper (money) can be. We allow ourselves to become consumed by the need for it and the desire to attain more and more of it...thinking it will provide us with happiness and/or security. I've been known to spend an afternoon in Target...it's my "shopping therapy."
*desires for other things - there are so many things we spend our time and energy pursuing.
I want to be young (anti-wrinkle, skin products, plastic surgery), thin (diet, exercise) desirable (clothing, cars, house, success, etc...) smart (education, credentials...)
I want...I want...I want...
Yet to be reminded that all of those things choke out the word in my life and make me unfruitful puts all those wants and desires in perspective.
Is it really possible to have it all? Can we have our cake and eat it too...without worrying about our waistline?
It's seems, according to scripture that something has to give...and it appears that that something is usually God's word in our lives.
Oswald Chambers teaches that we should never confuse joy with happiness. Joy is found in self sacrifice and self surrender to God the father. The thing that most commonly hinders joy in our lives is when we give too much thought to our own circumstances.
Each day, I'm going to actively work on changing my focus from my circumstances...to Christ.
Lord, help me to fix my eyes on you, the author and perfecter of my faith! (Heb. 12:2)
Amen
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I love to read your blogs Kim! It is awesome to see what a wonderful women of the Lord you have become. I'm sure you remember as I do how faithful Mrs. Drury was to take us to church services where the first seeds were planted in our hearts. God Bless her. What ever became of her do you know? How are the rest of your family and what are they doing these days?
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