Among the thorns

The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. Matthew 13:22

While studying the parable of the Sower and the Seeds I came across this quote from the Life App. Study Bible:

“Guard your schedule and associations and resist the desire to acquire more things. The more time you spend with God and His Word, the more you will see what truly productive living looks like.”

The word productive caught my full attention as this is a word that I think of on a daily basis. I’m a planner and the more I accomplish in a day, the more productive I feel. Often I have judged my worth based on how much I can produce or complete in a given time frame.

I use to work for a company that published each agents sales on a daily basis. We had a monthly minimum that we needed to produce just to cover our benefits and base wages. Anything above that was extra. The chart was color coded and you didn’t ever want to see your name in the brown section. The ideal location was in the yellow section which meant that you were were a top producer. There was a constant pressure to produce and show the company that you had value. At the beginning of each month it started all over again, back to zero with everyone in the brown. It was a never ending cycle.

But over time I learned that my worth and value have nothing to do with my financial or worldly productivity. I learned that the more stuff I have, the more time it requires to take care of it and that is time away from things that really matter.

Thankfully, God doesn’t rank His children and put them on a wall of shame to get results. Instead, He demonstrated His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He made a way for us to live productive lives in and through Him. Lives with real eternal purpose. Lives that matter every day. Lives that get better and better the more we know Him.

It’s when we understand His love for us and His desire to have a relationship with us, that our hearts, our soil, changes from that of thorns to soil that can grow fruit. That’s when real productivity happens and we begin living for God and Him alone.