Let anyone with ears to hear listen!
—Mark 4:9
Jesus preached a parable about four soils, representing the condition of the hearts of those who hear the Word. The first two were hard and rocky, producing no grain; the fourth yielded a bumper crop.
It’s the third that concerns me—if I stumble, this is likely where it will be. This soil was infested with thorns that choked the crop: “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things.”
These aren’t bad people, but they’re distracted: the “cares of the world” divert them; the lure of wealth deceives them; the “desires for other things” derails them.
He didn’t specify what the “other things” are. Career? Hobby? Recreation? Entertainment? Different things for different people; fill in the blank.
If you don’t manage your distractions,
your distractions will manage you.