I have two cats and a kitten. The
kitten gets special food. Whenever I feed him, the two big
cats come and eat his food. If I didn’t pull the big cats
away, my kitten would never get anything to eat.
So it is with the thorny soil. The
thorns and weeds steal water and nutrients away from the
seed that we planted. The plant begins to grow, but the
bigger weeds block the sunlight and keep it from growing.
People will hear the gospel and the
seed will begin to grow. But soon other things will start to
demand their attention. Maybe it is their job. Maybe they
can’t make it to the small group because the kids have to go
to soccer practice. Things keep them from spending their
time and money on growing into mature Christians. Eventually
they get choked out.
What is even worse is that these weeds
are naturally occurring, but also some have been planted
there by Satan as well. The second story that Jesus tells is
about Satan growing weeds in among the good, growing plants.
In our very churches, Satan has planted weeds. They are the
people that cause problems that have nothing to do with the
Bible and spread gossip about the community. They sit behind
you in church and bad mouth the pastor or some event that
the church has planned. They look like the real thing but
they have everyone fooled. They belong to Satan and are his
instruments. They choke out otherwise good plants.
Instead of removing them from the good
plants, Jesus says to let them be. When it is time for the
harvest, the weeds will be separated from the good wheat.
The weeds will be burned and the wheat will be taken to
heaven.
In short, the weeds that Satan has
planted are going to be judged while the people who grow to
become mature and produce fruit and going to be taken to
heaven.
The seeds planted in weedy soil are
choked out and die because of the desires of the flesh (in
this case weeds) are greater than the person’s faith. The
person whose heart is weedy soil is overcome by the flesh.
Next Section -
Looking for Fruit
