SEP 22

Mark 4:14-20
Memorise Mark 4:19
“the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful”

So we know that it is wrong to covet, and we should probably do something to reset the priorities in our lives. But do we really realise the urgency of the situation that we find ourselves in? Do you really realise what terrible debilitating effects covetousness can have on your spiritual lives?

You see, covetousness is like a deadly disease that is eating us up from the inside. From our exterior, we look fine and healthy, and seem to lead a decent moral life. However, within us, this deadly sin of covetousness is slowly creeping into every aspect of our lives, sowing discontent and dissatisfaction everywhere its deadly tendrils find its way into. As we see more of the world, we will begin to desire more and more that we do not have, and when we allow these desires to grow and become idols in our hearts, we very quickly drown out the desire for God.

This is what is described in the parable of the soils in Mark 4. The sin of covetousness is described by the third type of ground, the thorny ground. At this stage in life we may still be rather receptive to the gospel, and interested in knowing God and pleasing Him. However, if we do not actively pursue after a desire for God, but instead allow covetous desires to fester within us, soon the “cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word and it becometh unfruitful” (Mark 4:19). Covetousness would then be like a stranglehold over our spiritual lives, to choke us, and cause us to become unfruitful. It will snuff out all desire that we have to please God and seek after Him, and instead replace it with the materialism of the world, where we would foolishly lust after the temporal pleasures of this life. Our lives would then become useless to God, and we would become the branches that are hewn down, and cast into the fire (John 15:6).

Thus instead of seeking and lusting after the things of the world, we should instead focus our hearts and desires on seeking after the things of God. Instead of being like the thorny ground upon which the Word of God cannot take root, we must be like the good ground, upon which the seed can prosper and bring forth abundant fruit. This all begins with the right heart which seeks after God.

Thought: What sort of hold does covetousness have on my life?
Prayer: Lord, may You help me to be the good ground, fruitful for Thee.