Mark 4:19
And 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.
There are two types of people who don't get anything from God’s Word. The first person is the one who is not saved. You will never understand God’s Word if you don't have the Holy Spirit living within you to explain God’s Word to you. It is hard to get truth from God’s Word when the One who guides you into all truth does not indwell you. Many people can testify that, after they got saved, they were able to understand God’s Word, whereas before, it made no sense to them. One of the things you must always ask yourself if you don't understand God’s Word is, are you saved?
The second person who doesn't get anything from God’s Word is the worldly believer. The verse above shows that the cares of this world chokes God’s Word and is unfruitful to your life. There is no way you can have a worldly mindset and understand spiritual truths. The world has a way of tainting your mind so that it chokes you from gleaning truths that will help you from God’s Word. Let me share a few thoughts about worldliness choking God’s Word in your life.
First, your spiritual life will be on life support when you let worldliness control your life. The word choke means to gag, struggle for air, or fight for breath. It is no wonder that so many believers are barely making it spiritually when they spend so little time in God’s Word. You are dying a slow spiritual death when you let worldly affairs replace your time with God in His Word. Just like worldliness chokes your ability to glean truths from God’s Word, so God’s Word will choke your desire for worldliness. If you want to get your spiritual walk off life support, you must make time to get in God’s Word. God’s Word is like oxygen to your spiritual life; it will give you the stamina to serve God without wearing out.
Second, worldliness starves you to death spiritually. Worldliness is like junk food; you can eat it, and it will satisfy you for the moment, but it will starve you of the spiritual nutrients your Christian walk needs. You cannot have the mind of Christ when you are feeding on the world. It is amazing how worldly believers see God’s Word through a worldly viewpoint instead of a God viewpoint. The worldly believer will change God’s Word to fit their life, but the spiritual believer will change their life to fit God’s Word. When you are spiritual, you will approach God’s Word with a desire for it to change your life; when you are worldly, you will pervert God’s Word to appease your worldly conscience.
Third, you should be so filled with God’s Word that worldliness has no room to fit into your heart or life. There is no place for worldliness and God’s Word in the same life. My friend, you will get an appetite for God’s Word if you stop feeding on the cares, lusts, and riches of the world. The more time you spend with God in His Word, the less attractive the world will seem. It is easy to get the taste of the world out of your life; you do it by spending time in God’s Word and letting it wash your life and mind out with the truths of God’s Word.
When God’s Word seems not to be feeding you, you ought to check and see if you are so worldly minded that your worldliness has choked God’s Word from feeding you. God made His Word simple so everyone can understand. Stay close to it, and its riches will feed you continuously.
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