You’ve gone against your conscience and your God. That’s a bad place to be holed up.”
–Jim Burnett (The Bible and the Badge)
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.”
–1 Timothy 4:1-2 (NKJV)
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I’m tired of seeing the news. I’m tired of the left-wing agenda of the media. Hate the President, everything is racism, political correctness is a must, the attempt to rid this country of its history, the out and out looting and destruction that is taking place using a false view of the Constitution–I’m tired of it. So today, I will borrow from the words of Charles Spurgeon.
I have been doing part of my morning devotions going through the Book of Matthew, reading the thoughts from some of our great Christian leaders of the past. Yesterday was Charles H. Spurgeon and he wrote of Matthew 13:7,22.
“Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants…the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” (NIV)
“In this case, the seed fell not only on the ground but also into it, so that it began to grow. The stalk has struggled up through the thorns until you can see its head and are led to expect grain. But go to that apparent grain–ear and feel it: There is nothing in it. You have all the makings of an ear of grain, but it will yield no grain. The grain is so overshadowed with a thicket of thorns and is so choked that it comes to nothing.
“Note well that thorns are natural to the soil and were already established there. Any evil that hinders faith is natural to our fallen natures, and the roots of sin run throughout, grasping with marvelous tenacity. They will not give way to the Holy Spirit or to the new life or to the influences of divine grace without a desperate struggle. The roots of the thorns must first be uprooted; the great plow of conviction of sin must tear deep into the soul. Plows that scratch the surface will never do. Let God plow your soul so that His Word can be sown without thorns.
“‘The worries of this life’ speak to those who are anxious and mistrustful about temporal things–whether it is to simply have enough to survive or how to get more. It is not a care for God, but it is a care for some vanity or another, such as the ambition to keep up with your fellows, to be respectable, and to keep up appearances. Take heed to anxiety; it will eat the heart out of your faith if you let it.
“‘The deceitfulness of wealth’ speaks to those who have been charmed by the almighty dollar. Riches are evermore deceitful, tricking people who hug them into loving them. I would awake you to the fact that riches worm themselves into a man’s heart before he is well aware of it.
“Take a good look at your spiritual life. Thorns may not pull the seed up, but they can choke it to death. It may be time to get out the plow and root out the thorns.”
Watch out, therefore, for the thorns! The evil in the world in which we live is seeking to choke out the truth, not only of God’s Word, but of the history of our country.