Mark 4:18-19
And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

Sometimes we can have seasons of thorns in our lives even as believers.  We’ve heard the Word, and it has entered into our hearts and taken root.  But then we’ve allowed some other things to enter in also, so there is no room or opportunity for the Word to work.  We choose what we focus on.  We give entrance to things in our hearts.  We decide the kinds of things we ponder in our minds.  So we must be diligent about the kinds of things that can come into our lives and choke the Word.

If we’ve heard and believed, we have the potential to be fruitful.  Perhaps we’ve even already been fruitful.  But we can also become unfruitful by allowing some things to override the effect of God’s Word upon us.  Even if we love the Lord, we can get distracted by the cares of this world, daily life, going to work, raising a family.  We can get off track thinking that if we just had a little more money things would be better, or being afraid of losing what we do have.  And there are endless other things we might lust after, even good things, that become thorns in our lives.

When we allow these thorns to grow—whether we aren’t even aware of them, choose them or are deceived by them—they hinder the Word of God from working in our hearts.  They choke it and take from it and prevent it from producing anything good in our lives.  And there is a remedy, but it’s going to take some effort.  We’re going to have to get a little dirty.  And it might even be painful.  Because we have to go in and remove every thorn one by one.  We have to dig down to the root of it and pull it out of the field of our heart and cast it into the fire.  And with God’s help and grace, we can be rid of those things once and for all.

If we’re trying to thrive in our walk with the Lord in a field of thorns, we’re going to fail, because His Word is what sustains us.  His Word has to have room to work to produce a change in us, to produce fruit, to produce anything good from our lives.  His Word is what gives us life and gives us hope and gives us the wisdom and guidance we need to live the right kind of life.  If we’ve identified any thorns in our lives, may we work to get rid of them, and may we strive to prevent anything from entering our hearts that my hinder His Word from working in our lives.