Who's afraid of thorns?

I (Steve) remember going for long walks in the woods as a kid with my Dad, and one of things you learned early on (at least where I grew up) was navigating prickers.  Small branches you could just step on.  Bigger ones, you had to gently push out of the way (and make sure they didn’t snap back on the pour soul behind you).  The thing about prickers (and thorns) is that you mostly learn by getting stuck in them.

And here we are with the last of the four spiritual soils – thorns.   We suppose that’s not a “soil” per se, but you get the idea. 

Remember the first two soil types – God’s word is quickly stolen away.  With the hardened pathway, the “enemy” steals away God’s Word before it can even penetrate the heart.  With the rocky soil, people “at once fall away” as soon as they face trials or persecution.

With the thorns it is different.  Jesus says, “worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the Word.”   The thorns - the cares of the world – choke us.  They slowly wear us down – they prick at us and stick to us.

What really gives the thorns their “prick” is fear – fear of the future (anxiety) or fear of having to let go of attachments (worldly allurements).  The world stokes this fear with constant temptations (you can’t be happy without our latest soul-sucking-device, or, without that drink, or, without that title and promotion) and with constant doom-and-gloom (the Arctic is melting, the Antarctic is melting, everything is melting, even the stuff that can’t melt is melting). 

Two reliable responses to those thorns are (1) staying in the present moment, and (2) authentic recreation – both of which are foreign concepts to the fallen world. 

Staying in the present moment necessarily inoculates us against fear of the future.  You can’t focus on both time frames at the same time.  Of course, it’s not so simple to keep our mind from being drawn into the future (we focus on this in our 5 Days to Christian Vaccination) – but the bottom line is that staying in the present is a potent response to anxiety.

And authentic recreation stops the allurement of the world’s cheap knock-offs in their tracks.  When we come to savor the simple pleasures of life (especially time with God and loved ones), we recognize the world’s alternatives are just empty calories.  Just like how going on a detox diet wakes us up to how our body naturally recoils from artificial ingredients.

You see the thing about thorns, once you figure them out, is they really can’t hurt you.

Blessings on your journey with Christ –

Steve and Karen Smith

Interior Life

Postscript:  Mt 13:1-23

On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.  Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore.

And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying:  "A sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.  It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots.  Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.  But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.  Whoever has ears ought to hear."

The disciples approached him and said, "Why do you speak to them in parables?"  He said to them in reply, "Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.  To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.  This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.  Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see.

Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted, and I heal them.

"But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.  Amn, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

"Hear then the parable of the sower.  The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart.  The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy.  But he has no root and lasts only for a time.  When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away.  The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit.  But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold."