“The good soil represents the hearts of those who truly accept God’s message and produce a huge harvest – thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as has been planted.”

New talent has been hired, oriented and starting in their new job. Everyone is really excited and accepting. The employee gets going and everything is good until they start to get into the thick of it with their co-workers. On the surface the team looks accepting and welcoming, but once the work starts to get done, the thorns of politics start to come out. All of a sudden, everywhere the employee turns it feels like they are getting stuck and before long they are so deep into the thorns that it feels choking and constricting. They go home and ask themselves, “Why am I doing this to myself?” After months of this, they either give up or we don’t want to hear what they are telling us about the politics, the back-biting, the hidden agendas, etc. and we label them as a misfit and malcontent, and we let them go. Meanwhile the thorn bushes have found another victim and once they have some open space, they insidiously grow into each other, making it even harder for the next person coming in. Thorns of politics and bad behavior are hard to see from the surface so we have to be willing to go in and do the dirty work of removing them at the root. If we don’t then new talent will never be accepted and we won’t ever let any of the new talent to come in and take real root.

Jesus’ message comes to us and we let Him in and then we let the busy nature of our lives, our other interests and commitments, our other influences to, like thorns, squeeze Him out until His message is choked and can never grow in our lives. If we really think about it, any new aspect of our lives whether it be a new relationship or a new activity or interest must have to room to take hold and grow into us otherwise all of the other things and people in our lives will push it out. Our acceptance of God is the same way. We have to make room for Him in our lives or He can never take root and grow within us. It’s really nasty work removing those thorn bushes and it demands the courage and resistance to pain to get in there and take them out at the root. But, if we don’t then there will never be room for Him. Let’s not let the thorn bushes in our lives be the reason why we have an acceptance problem.

Reference: Matthew 13: 1-23 (New Living Testament)