Thorny Soil
Mark 4:18-19 (NKJV) Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the Word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful.
We are looking at the soil and what is contained in each person’s “kardia” (heart). The soil of a person’s heart is really the most important thing. If the seed of the Word never fails, then it is dependent on the soil of someone’s heart. I don’t believe after studying this that a person can just assume, “My soil is this way, and it just has to stay that way.” The parable lends itself to look at natural soil; and the truth about natural soil is it needs to be maintained and tended to regularly to produce the most harvest of any crop.
The soil we will now look at is what Jesus called “Thorny” soil. This soil has weeds that grow alongside the Word. Again, you cannot tell this person’s soil from other soils until harvest time because they seem the same. This person seems to have the good soil but then, no fruit ever comes to harvest. Jesus told us four things that keep this person from being a person who receives the promises. They are the deceitfulness of riches, pleasures of this life, lust of other things, and the cares of this world. All these things can get into someone’s heart and choke out the Word of God. Let’s look at each weed that can get into someone’s heart.
First, the weed of deceitfulness of riches. I can already hear people saying, “That prosperity message is of the devil!” No, being deceived by riches and the love of money is of the devil. Prosperity is of God. In Luke 16:10-13, the Word clearly explains that you cannot serve God and money. Well, that is easy, I choose God. How do you know? If you chose God, then you don’t let money make the decisions of your life. In other words, you don’t consult your wallet before you make a decision. You don’t take a job based on the amount of money it offers you. You check with God and see where He wants you to work. The Bible is also clear in 1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19 that it is the love of money and not money itself that is the root of all evil. What tends to happen is that people begin to covet money, and the Bible says it causes them to err from the faith (1 Timothy 6:21). We are also told not to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God. Who do you trust? Do you trust God or the money you earn? Your answer is how you can tell who you really serve.
The next two, which are similar, are also weeds in your garden. The Bible warns us about both the pleasures of life and the lust of other things. The Bible says in the last days, people will be lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:4). It is also very clear that our flesh has lusts and entices us to yield to those lusts. First Peter 4:2 says, “That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.” We also know that this is what the devil used in the garden and still uses today according to 1 John 2:15-17. It is called the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. These are all weeds that choke out the Word of God, so we must learn to live free from them and keep them out of the garden of our heart.
The last one is the cares of this world. To put it simply, we are talking about worry. The Lord deals with us over and over again about fear and worry. You cannot be in fear and worry and be in faith at the same time. Fear and worry will push faith out. They cannot coexist. We are clearly told in the Epistles to deal with this. First Peter 5:7 says, “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” Philippians 4:6-7 tells us to be anxious for nothing. Jesus explains that worrying has never solved anything when he tells us in Matthew 6 that we are better than the birds, and the Father takes care of each one of them.
These four things must be removed from our lives if our soil is to produce the promises of God that come to us in seed form.