“Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.” (Matt. 13:7)
LET’S JUST SAY I TRIED MY BEST. I don’t have much of a green thumb, but I thought it would be fun to try my luck at planting a garden. I tilled the ground, plucked out the rocks, and plopped in my seeds. After a couple of weeks, I noticed my seeds were beginning to sprout. I was very proud of myself. However, after a few more weeks passed, the demands of my life became out of control. One day I looked out and realized I had successfully planted a garden full of weeds.
Weeds can envelop our lives too. It is easy to have so many interests in life that the most important things are crowded out. Life has a way of draining the energy from us. There are countless things to do and be involved in. We can creep into a lifestyle in which we are too busy to pray, too preoccupied to study God’s Word, and too involved in projects to spend time with God.
It is not always sinful things that pull us away from experiencing God’s best. Sometimes good things can get in the way. Most of us do not willfully banish prayer, Scripture, or church fellowship from our lives—we may well value them. Yet, somehow we never get around to them, and our life-garden doesn’t produce very much kingdom fruit.
Pluck the weeds crowding out your number one affection: Christ our Lord.
Ed Love serves as the Director of Multiplication for The Wesleyan Church, and is the author of Fear Not (WPH) and Reclaiming Hope (WPH).
© 2018 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission.
