Thorns

 "Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants." Matthew 13:7 NIV

In the Parable of the Sower, one of the soils is described as having thorns.  When Jesus explains the parable, he said that the thorns represent worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth. It' s easy to see how worrying can draw us away from God but the deceitfulness of wealth takes a bit more pondering about.  How does wealth deceive us? Wealth can make us feel secure without the need of God's provision or guidance.  Wealth can delude us into thinking that  we acquired our material riches because of our own hard work or because we are "good" people, believing that God was not involved in our blessings. We can trust our wealth to solve our problems with health, relationships and security. This is delusion as only God is reliable. A comfortable lifestyle with many distractions can lead us away from our Christian friends and prayer.  We may fill up our time with so many pleasurable activities that we have no time left to help our friends, family or needy people in our communities.

I pray that I will remember that all blessings come from God. I don't need to worry about my future as He is taking care of it. I also pray that I will look money squarely in the face and see it for what it is - something that can be used for good purposes or something that can simply make me more selfish and addicted to entertaining activities.