Living the Christian life is like having a garden in the middle of the forest. You know that the forest will supply your garden with lots of weeds, and if you don't keep a constant watch the weeds will quickly take over. In the Gospel of Mark chapter four Jesus is giving us some very important insights on what kind of weeds we should make sure to get rid of...

In the Gospel of Mark chapter four Jesus is telling the parable of the sower, where He basically is explaining the effect the Word of God has on different people. He uses the different type of soils as examples of different kinds of heart's and shows how the different kind of attitudes either can hinder or promote spiritual growth.

• Mark 4:13-20
  Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown."

One of these soils are very much a good description of the general “state of heart” the people here in the west are suffering from. It's the part of the parallel where He is talking about the seed that fell among thorns.

The thorns did not stop the seed from growing, but it just made sure that the seed did not grow up to produce fruit. In the same way we can look at Christianity in the west, and conclude that the devil has not stopped it. There are more churches, bible schools and theological seminaries than most other places in the world. Many of the european countries even has Christianity as their state religion.

But still Christianity in Europe has a big lack of power. We have more knowledge about the Bible, history, and philosophy than other continents, but we lack the spiritual fruits that should follow. We know that Jesus healed the sick and cast of devils, that the spiritual world is real and that the first disciple walked in the same power Jesus operated in. But the supernatural dimension we read about in our Bible, is just not part of out daily life.

To excuse the obvious lack of power, many Christians create doctrines explaining why we don't see the same supernatural manifestations today. This prevents us from feeling guilt or searching our own hearts for why there is such a obvious lack of power.

When Jesus explains the parable to His disciples, He reveals that the things that is choking the word of God, making it unfruitful, is three things.

• The worries of this life
  
• The deceitfulness of wealth
  
• The desires for other things
  

I'm not trying to be pessimistic, but I think it's safe to say that all three of these things exists in abundance in the hearts of most Christians in the west. If we should take a honest look at the things occupying the minds of europeans, a big percentage would be things that go under the category: Worries of this life, wealth and desires for other things.

If you don't worry about things concerning this life, like work, study, where to live, food, clothing and so on you would quickly be looked upon as irresponsible. Even though Jesus directly tells us not to worry about this life.

• Matthew 6:25,30-31, 33-34
  "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear... If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?... But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

This does not mean that it's wrong to have a place to live, wear nice cloths and eat good food – but God does not want these things to become the focus of our life. In Matthew 6:33 Jesus is saying: “... seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”.

God have put you here on earth with a purpose, and it's not go get a PhD. and being able to enjoy luxury. He have put you here on earth because he want you to be His co. worker here on earth. God has an agenda and He has invited you to help. It's not because He's not able to do it alone, but He has given us the privilege of participating in His mission.

When we join Him, focusing on fulfilling His plans, He has no problem with blessing us – but He wants our focus to be right.


Strong warnings
The Bible has strong warnings when it comes to our attitudes to the world we are living in, and it's not without reason.

• In James 4:4 it is written:
  You adulterous people,t don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

• And in 1. John 2:15-17 it is written:
  Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Fathert is not in them.For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

God knows that the world we are living in is full of weeds, and weeds has a tendency to spread like wildfires. If you have a garden close to a forest you know that you will have to put in extra work in keeping the garden free of weeds. Because in the forest there are lots of weeds and they are spreading fast. If your garden is close to the forest the weeds from the forest will constantly try to take over your garden.

In the same way our life is like a garden placed in the middle of a forest. There are weeds everywhere, and if we don't daily pull up the weeds by the roots, they will take over our garden in no time.

The result will be that the Word of God planted in our heart will grow up, but it will grow up together with weeds. This will empty the word of it's power to transform our life and make us unfruitful in the eyes of God. We might have the right knowledge and know all the right answers, but there will be no spiritual power.


Remove the weeds before seeking new revelation
So often we go from conference to conference, searching for some king of new revelation that will boost our spiritual life and bring change. But the problem is that as long as our hearts are full of weeds, the new revelation will not produce any lasting change. We might sow a new seed, it might grow up, but the thorns will “... choke the word, making it unfruitful”.

Before we seek new revelation or go of to some new bible school we should prepare the soil of our hearts, removing the things that Jesus said would choke the word. We should examine our self, making sure that the worries of this life, wealth and desires for other things are filling our thoughts. Instead we should constantly be renewing our minds, so that we will be able to understand what God wants.

• Romans 12:2
  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

It's so easy to be conformed to the society we live in, striving after the same things and worrying about the same issues. This is why we daily need to spend time with God, letting the Holy Spirit guide and letting the Word of God renew us.

Don't just live along thinking that everything will work out in the end. You are living in a world that is in opposition to the Kingdom you have inside of you. If you are walking around with your guard down, you will be conformed to this world. If you don't pull up the weeds as soon as they appear, they will take over your garden. Take heed to the warning the Bible gives us, because they are just as relevant today as when where written.