The Things That Choke Us

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. Mark 4: 18-19
I just got this insightful devotional from Charles Swindoll’s Day by Day Series in my inbox today. It’s about the parable of the sower in Mark 4 and how the hearers of the word were classified into four kinds of people. The first two groups were those who heard the truth but basically weren’t affected by it. The third and fourth groups were very interesting. Both heard the gospel, both were changed, but the third group’s conversion was short lived. These people reverted back to their old way of life.

What went wrong?

Jesus gave us a glimpse of the possible reasons why people turn away from God. First are the worries that choke the life out of believers. According to Swindoll, the English word “worry” came from the old German word “wurgen” that means “to choke,” and by extension, it could also mean “mental strangulation.” Now that’s a very revealing linguistic lesson. The last time I worried, it nearly led me to nervous breakdown. It robbed me of sleep and peace of mind that I couldn’t care less about anything else. Worry strangles people to death. Literally and figuratively.

The second and third reasons for man’s falling away from God are the “deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things.” When you phrase these ideas that way, they do sound wrong and evil but when you replace them with our latest corporate jargon like “not settling for the second best, being driven to succeed, and enough just isn’t enough,” you’ll see how far you’ve allowed a lot of things to strangle you.