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The Crowded Heart
Matthew 13:7
"And othen fell upon the thorns; and the thorns grew up
and choked them . . ." (Matthew 13:7).
This part of Jesus's story of the sower does not refer to seed sown in an
already visible infestation of weeds, but in soil adulterated with the seeds of
useless and burdensome plants. The soil is rich, deep and receptive, but it is
corrupted. The thorns, which will produce nothing good themselves, will simply
grow up to burden the ground and sap the strength of the good seed until it,
too, is fruitless. Of this thorn-possessed soil Jesus says, "And he that was
sown among the thorns, this is he that hears the word; and the care of the world
and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word and he become unfruitful"
(Matthew 13:22). To the list of deterrents to fruitfulness, Mark adds "the lust
of other things" (4:19), and Luke, "pleasures of this life" (8:14).
Some commentators, especially those of Calvinistic bent, dismiss this case as
that of an unconverted heart - one that never received the word of the kingdom
with fullness of spirit. This seems unlikely. In the unconverted no life is
produced, the seed rots in the ground. Here there is not only life, but growth.
The failure derives from what comes afterward - the rise of earthborn
distractions which divide the heart and dissipate the energy of the soul.
The whole point of planted seed is not the growth of a plant, however luxuriant,
but the production of fruit. The child of the kingdom of heaven is not just to
look good, but to do good and to be good. The problem with the heart of the
thorny soil is that it has become too crowded with competing concerns, and the
seed of God cannot prosper in a divided heart.
What are the thorns that can bleed the spiritual vitality right out of a child
of God? Jesus is explicit. The cares of this world can do it. Constant
preoccupation with food and shelter and the fear of not having enough not only
slanders God's faithfulness, but allows mindless anxiety to rob God of the
energies we owe to Him (Matthew 6:25-34). Christians who exhaust their powers in
fear and worry will never blossom and bear fruit. Why do we kid ourselves? Worry
is not only wasteful, it is sinful. It says implicitly that God will not help us
and that we must muddle on without Him.
The love of things can also effectively suffocate the spirit. Money and property
can seem so tangible, so real and so securing, but riches are deceitful. They
promise fulfillment and never give it (Ecclesiastes 5:9-10). They promise
security, but fly off like a wild bird (Proverbs 23:5). We need to deal
practically rather than emotionally with material things. We all know
intellectually that they don't last. They are as ephemeral as a snowball in
July. Why should a man be fool enough to build his life on sand? Still, many
Christians think they can have their cake and eat it too. They only wind up as
spiritual zombies who drag their emptiness to church assemblies and watch their
children grow up to open worldliness without their parents' pious fraud. Such
disciples are decorative plants. Don't expect anything lasting to come of them.
Finally, the "pleasures of this life" can work to suck us dry. "What's wrong
with pleasures?" someone asks. "Is the life of the kingdom to be one long
headache of misery and self-denial?" The answer to the first is "nothing," to
the second "no." There is nothing wrong with working diligently for our food, or
having wealth, or enjoying all the pleasant things which God has richly given us
(1 Timothy 6:17). But any or all of these things are wrong to those who have
been "choked" by them, when they have become the passion of their lives. The
Greek word translated "choked" in Luke 8:14 is later in the same chapter
construed as "thronged" (8:42). Some people let these intrinsically legitimate
things so overwhelm them that they are possessed and ruled by them. Legitimate
concerns or blessings are then turned into fear, greed and lust. God and His
kingdom are crowded to the fringes. The voice of God becomes dim in the clamor.
The blessings of our Father ought to be the occasion in His children for
thanking Him and serving Him, but they can easily become the cause of our
disaffection and uselessness.
Those who choose the divided heart, the crowded heart, says Jesus, will "bring
no fruit to perfection" (Luke 8:14), literally, will never carry through to the
end, will never finish the job.
We need be under no illusions about Jesus' attitude toward those who start but
never finish. "No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is flt
for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62). We never need to wonder how He feels about
the double-minded. "No man can serve two masters
You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24). And we certainly have no cause
to doubt His feeling about the fruitless. "Every branch in me that bears no
fruit, he takes it away . . ." (John 15:2). There is a future in God's kingdom
for the single-minded, however fumbling - but for the divided heart, the crowded
heart, there is no hope. "Purify your hearts, you double-minded" (James 4:8).
{From CHRISTIANITY MAGAZINE, January, 1993, p.#27}
By Paul Earnhart
From Expository Files 3.5; May 1996
