We all must go through the thorns; it is part and parcel with spiritual transformation... our wilderness experience. Thorns are tools of deception, and deception is, literally, mental blindness. The thorns of this world create toe-holds in our heart, places we have given to the enemy... doors of access. At first we struggle, then we acquiesce, then we embrace our love for “other things”, the things of this life. It is, ultimately, our lust that bates and ensnares us. This is how we fall away... one thorn at a time, till we are so thorny we no longer perceive God. The Sower Parables describe four specific categories of thorns:
“DESIRES FOR OTHER THINGS”: “Other things” here are not Kingdom things. This is materialism warring to draw our desires away from spiritual things. “Desires” is the Greek word eipthumia and means to desire greatly, longing, lust and strong passion in the mind... a lusting mindset. In (1 Jn. 2:16) it is the lusts of the “eyes”, “flesh”, and “pride” in opposition to Jesus’ command “do not love the world or the things in the world” (vs. 15).
“DECEITFULNESS OF RICHES”: Wealth and the power it produces are addictive. “Deceitfulness” is the Greek word apate and means deceptive, seducing propensities which induce to sin and lead to disappointment. Remember the camel and the eye of a needle: This is talking about a real camel and a real sewing needle.
“CARES OF THE WORLD”: “Cares” is a synonym of the Greek word for worry, the most prevalent sin of the 21st century church. The anxiety of worry brings disruption to mind, heart, soul and spirit, driving away the peace of God, and causing sickness and disease. Worry is unbelief pure and simple, and habitual worry is to treat our Savior’s sacrifice as a common thing, insulting the Spirit of grace.
“PLEASURES OF LIFE”: “Pleasures” is the Greek word hedone which means sensual pleasure, physical gratification, enjoyment, lust, and in a broader sense the desire for pleasures. James speaks of our “desire for pleasures” that war in our bodies (James 4:1-3), and Paul speaks of the ungodly in the last days as “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Tm. 3:4), showing pleasure seeking to be enmity against God.
The “Thorny Heart” is a picture of twenty-first century Christian life... fruitless Self serving lives enamored with life in this world. Saints are not supposed to stay in the thorn bushes, but merely travel through them, being in the world but not partakers of the world. The only antidote for “thorns” is transformation, the willingness to die to Self submitting to Christ’s Lordship, and be renewed in mind... reflecting the passionate desires of God’s heart. Christlikeness, the goal of all true saints, is an outward reflection of an inner reality, a replacement process where we reckon bits of our Self nature dead and Christ replaces those pieces with bits of His nature. A heavenly mindset keeps this goal in sharp focus while giving no “place”, or toe-hold, for thorns or any “lusts” to spring up in our mind. People of “one thing” have made God the centerpiece of their heart... their mind... and their existence.
COME OUT FROM AMOUNG THEM
AND BE YE SEPARATE
No comments:
Post a Comment