Reveration Blog
8/3/2022 0 Comments Vines and Thorns
I was mowing my lawn and noticed vines that had reached the branches of a pine tree. They circled many branches climbing up at least five feet and spreading a smothering canopy. Left unchecked, Wisteria would strangle the pine tree robbing it of nutrients until it is diseased and dead.
Meditation Mark 4:7,18,19--Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce a crop . . . these are the ones who hear the word, but the worries of this age, the seduction of wealth, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Vines and thorns represent worries, misplaced priorities, and unhealthy desires that kill the word of God, leaving people spiritually unfruitful. When it comes to vines, they must be cut off, so they naturally die on whatever plant or tree they have overtaken. Then the roots must be pulled up so they cannot grow again, causing harm. This requires regular personal inventory. Am I beleaguered with worries? Jesus told His disciples in Luke 12:22, “Therefore I tell you, don’t worry about your life, what you will eat; or about the body, what you will wear.” Am I chasing wealth? Jesus said in Mark 10:23, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” Are unhealthy desires squeezing out God’s Word and causing me to be unfruitful? Paul encouraged his readers in Romans 13:14 to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no plans to satisfy the fleshly desires.” Putting on Jesus is always the antidote to killing vines and thorns. In The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “When we are called to follow Christ, we are summoned to an exclusive attachment to his person.” Something to think about . . . in reveration! Inspiration There is only one place where we are right, and that is in Christ Jesus.—Oswald Chambers in My Utmost For His Highest ©2022Daniel York ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause. If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box. Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to the inclusion of this copyright notice. Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth. (Holman CSB)
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Photo from Rachel Maxey Miles