Weedy Weeds and Thorny Thorns

"When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.
As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty." (Matthew 13:19-23, ESV)
How many times have we heard this parable taught to us, either in Bible class or Sunday school or from the pulpit. I think we concentrate on the part about not being rocky soil or hard of heart, like the path where the seed fell. But what about the last two kinds of soil?
We have seen good men and women who were obedient to God’s Holy Word but little by little, they seemed to stop coming to church or Bible class, they stopped getting involved in the good works that the church set out to do and they seemed to lose interest in things sacred. How did that happen?
I grew up in the hills of southern California and we did much of the work around the little ten-acre farm by hand. Oh, it was a farm alright. We had every kind of farm animal you can imagine, from horses to geese to chickens to pigs to cows to goats to sheep, well, you get the picture. In order to save on buying hay for the cow, we planted a large field in oats or barley each year. Now, there was a path near the fence that was very hard and there was rocky ground, to be sure. Some of the ground near our water supply was filled with weeds. We planted the grain by hand, much in the way you see it being done in pictures of times gone by. You cannot control exactly where the seed will fall, but after it sprouted, you knew. Just like the parable, the seed on the path would not sprout, the seed on the rocky soil would wither and die and so forth. The good soil produced a nice crop. At least the cow enjoyed it.
There is much you can do to prepare the soil before sowing the seed. You can remove the rocks, the weeds and whatever. You can plow the land until even the paths become soft and ready for the seed. You can remove the weeds. But in the event you do none of those things, you can expect that some of the seed will be lost. It will not produce a crop.
The book of Hebrews warns Christians not to drift from their faith. “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” (Hebrews 2:1-4, ESV) Jesus first said that those with ears should hear. Hearing implies obedience. When I disobeyed my parents they would often question, “Didn’t you hear me?” We must pay closer attention to the word. The Word of God is reliable and it means what it says. If we take our salvation lightly, we could possibly drift away from God. The problem here is the heart. The heart can be deceptive. But the heart can be trained to do what is right. It can be trained to pay attention. Jeremiah had another way of saying something about the heart. “For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: "Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds." (Jeremiah 4:3-4, ESV) The heart can become hard, impervious to God’s Word. Circumcision of the heart means that we must deal with our hearts in a straightforward manner. No dancing around the sins that we enjoy or playing with the temptations that can lead to sin. We must deal harshly with sin and with a heart that says, “Well, everyone’s doing it.” Otherwise, the thorns will grow up and choke out the Holy Word of God. We must take God seriously. One particular Christian group did the world a big disfavor by classifying sins into two groups, mortal and venal. Mortal sins are those that will bring death. Venal sins are sins, but not so bad and they won’t cost you your soul. That is a patent lie. All sin leads to death. If you would like a list of some sins, even sins that don’t seem so bad, look at Romans 1: 24-32 or Colossians 3:5-9. Notice what the Spirit says through the apostle Paul in Colossians: “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Col 3:2, ESV) Now compare that with what Jesus said about the seed that fell among the thorns. The cares of this world can choke out the faith that we have in Jesus Christ. This is of paramount importance to remember. If we would really live life incarnadine, covered in the blood of Jesus Christ, we must be good soil that produces a large crop. We cannot do that by our own strength. We must allow the Holy Spirit to conform us to the will of God and not allow the world to conform us to what we see around us. Do you like reality? This is reality.