The Weeds in Your Soul

Mark 4:18,19

Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 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.

During the spring of year, many people are in their garden every day trying to plant and water and get vegetables to grow. It is a critical time where they have to help the plants get a good start so that they will have enough water and nutrition to develop healthy roots that are key to their eventual fruit.

But as much as they focus on starting healthy plants, they also work to prevent weeds from poking up because there are invasive, nasty, wild growing parasitic plants that will take over the soil and choke out the crops the gardener has worked so hard to start. Of course they don't plant those weeds. So where do they come from? Their seeds are spread to your garden from far and near, many through the air from the neighbor's yard next door, and they take root and sprout up.

In these verses today, Jesus is warning his disciples about their spiritual lives and how thorns can prevent the seed of God's Word from growing. The weeds that can rise up from our sinful nature are toxic to our spiritual growth, and choking out the work of the Holy Spirit who is trying to speak truth to us. God's thoughts are to be used by His Spirit to change us, transform us, help us think like Jesus and over time to bear fruit in our changed lives. But the fruit of patience, kindness, gentleness, self control, joy, and peace can be choked out by our worries, our lust for more possessions, and our anger over the slightest offenses of others.

How can we prevent these spiritual weeds? These often rise up through discontentedness, longing for things that can never satisfy us. Through the air of our culture, seeds can be sown by other discontented people, the world of advertising who want to goad you into dissatisfaction and the natural tendency of our flesh to rebel against God. When you finally realize that those weeds have grown to enormous proportions, their roots have grown deep and it becomes harder and harder to get rid of them.

True contentment isn't something we find in things, people, or circumstances. It only comes from a commitment to rely on the Lord to provide what we need and to wait on His timing. Pull out those weeds in your life. Surrender your needs to Him today and ask Him to give you contentment in what He wants for you.