Is your life too crowded for God?

14 ”As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit” (Luke 8:14).

18 ”Others are like seed sown among thorns; these are the ones who hear the word,19 but the worries of this age, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Mark 4:18–19).

In my aunt’s yard in beautiful British Columbia is a tree I take great delight in. It produces many pounds of cherries each year and, thankfully, we are among those who get to enjoy them.

I remember the year my aunt called to tell me there had been an abundance of spring sunshine and the cherries appeared to be a couple of weeks ahead of schedule. We circled the weekend on our calendar, counted down the days, packed up the van, and headed west prepared to pick the cherries that were supposedly days away from perfection.

However, there was an unexpected change in the weather, which meant that though the cherries were plenty in number, they weren’t ripe or ready for picking. The empty-handed drive home was disappointing.

While Matthew and Mark describe the seed sown in the thorny soil as unfruitful, Luke rounds out our understanding by describing it as producing no mature fruit.

The phrase “no mature fruit” means that fruit was growing but did not ripen or come to perfection and maturity. The phrase can describe fruit, pregnant women, or animals bringing their young to maturity, and, interestingly, this is the only use of the phrase in the Bible (Strong’s, G5052, “telesphoreo.”)

How might you feel if you saw pounds of developing fruit on your cherry tree, knowing it would never ripen for harvest? Or a growing pregnancy, knowing it would not culminate in birth? Or a small child, knowing they would not be brought to maturity? Our hearts ache at the very thought, for we intuitively know this is not the way life was meant to be.

We were made for maturity.

I wonder if we might feel that same ache if, when Jesus tests the quality of our life’s work with fire, we see that we did not mature in fruitfulness and productivity the way He intended? Will we see hearts that are hard, shallow, crowded, unwilling?

According to Jesus, the competition that crowds our hearts are things we are all too familiar with—worry, wealth, desire for other things, and pleasures of this life (gratifying the natural or sinful desires, and the natural tendency towards evil things—acting out of fear, pride or guilt).

We don’t have to be doing worldly things for our hearts to be crowded; we can simply desire them. The longings don’t need to be carried out to crowd the truth; they can simply occupy space in our hearts.

How can we know if we are not maturing? Nothing will be hidden from Him when our lives are tested, and nothing is hidden from Him now.

Only God can reveal to us now what competition is crowding out our completion while there is still time for course corrections.

He can show us how our hearts are crowded. We desperately need His living and active Word to judge the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts.45 We can ask Him to search, know and test our hearts and reveal what way is in us.46

As we offer Him access to our hearts, He will weed out the desires and pleasures that keep us from flourishing.

Reflect:

• Jesus warns us that our desire for other things can choke out the seed of His Word. Describe an “other thing” you’ve longed for—whether for a season of life, relationship or circumstance. Did it satisfy the way you expected? Why or why not?

• What hesitations do you have about giving God full access to weed out your heart? What lies might your heart still believe that stem from believing that God is a taker, and the world is a giver? Do you believe that His will for you is to flourish?

Ask:

• God, reveal what competition is crowding out my completion and begin to correct my course so I can flourish

Excerpt taken from The Flourishing Life— Discovering the transforming power of trusting God with your weaknesses, ways and wants.