THORNS!
'And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares, and riches, and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.' -- Luke 8:14.
God kept whispering the word ‘THORNS’ in my ears! As I kept walking, sitting and working; yet, I was meditating the word ‘thorn’ in my heart! What are the thorns in our life: cares , riches and pleasures as mentioned above and a plethora of other byproducts of the above sins: gossip, sexual sin, hatred, bitterness, cheating, lying, coveting, self-smugness, laziness, drunkenness.. etc. The more I meditated, the more my heart ached and pained to think of the multitude of young and old people who just vanished from my life! These were the people who were choked by the thorns! Besides the ones who just vanished from my life like the Malaysian Airlines MH370, there were others parading right in front of me; YET without bearing any fruits. The same people who used to once say that they would never leave me and would stand with me in the ministry are the ones who would walk late to church and at times never come to church! Watching such people right in front of you gives you more torture and anguish than the ones who disappeared! Anybody listening?
Now watch this, the Bible says: Luke 8:14”And that which fell among thorns..” Did you observe that? The seed was sown not in a good, rich ground but one that was full of thorns! Yes, God plants the seed that is His Word in the heart of a person that is entwined with thorns, that is the cares and riches of this world. Well, what do we do? We’ve got to get rid of the thorns! I repeat get rid of the thorns! You are responsible for the growth of the seed and none others! Are you listening to me?
Hearing the Word is not enough, you got to be doers without which all spiritual efforts would be futile! The moment I knew the Truth and I was saved from ‘dead Christianity’, I started pruning my life. I knew being born into a Christian home would be just not enough but I got to have Jesus in all areas of my life. I aggressively started cleansing my life by: breaking movie audio/video CDs, tore all secular magazines/books that contradicted the Bible, stopped watching all unhealthy secular programs, severed all unwanted relationships, cut away worldly stuff and lots of other things. Just to put it in one single sentence, ‘my life style took a complete U TURN!’ I stopped attending office parties, my vocabulary was more of ‘JESUS’ than any other stuff so many left me, I avoided ‘gossip parties’ and started a prayer cell in the bank where I worked. Thus started my ministry! Now look, the Bible says: Mathew 8: 8 “But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.” The seeds that fell on good ground, grew and flourish are also categorized into 100-fold, sixty-fold and thirty-fold! Which category do you belong? Are you satisfied to remain as dead Christians producing no fruits? Or are you satisfied with just living a name-sake Christian life? Or are you craving to live a gorgeous fruitful life? Decide. What do you do?
John 15:5”I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
