February 8, 2020

February 8

Running with Jesus

Luke 8: 11-15 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

     Jesus is running cross country as we travel this trek and begins to use parables to get His points across. In this area he uses stories about a man who sows seeds. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly message. 

      I like to read a passage and then read it again until it speaks to my heart. I couldn't help but stop when I read this part:  “And the seed that fell in the weeds—well, these are the ones who hear, but then the seed is crowded out and nothing comes of it as they go about their lives worrying about tomorrow, making money, and having fun.  Yelp, the light bulb came on! Here we are Miss America running down the aisle, waving to the crowd with her crown on, and her ruby red slippers! The weeds have grown around her and choked out the words of God! 

     Jesus told His disciples that Isaiah had prophesied "Their eyes are open but don’t see a thing," Their ears are open but don’t hear a thing. The word of God is being sown but choked out! We say not us, but listen again: worrying about tomorrow, making money, and having fun! These are spiritual robbers that will hinder our run with Christ. 

     Just yesterday I was trying to keep my spiritual senses on high alert because I was working on some important things for the retreat, the TV had been left on and all of a sudden I realized it was interfering with my meditation. I ran to turn it off. I like TV as much as any but we need to practice turning it off. Most of us have 2-4 TV sets in our homes. We waste a lot of time not listening to God and it is a tool Satan is using to choke out Jesus and His voice. This is just one example and this list could be a mile long.

     Let's start looking for weeds that have grown in our path that is slowing our run down and hindering our ability to run and keep up with Christ. 

Father we want to hear from You. Please help me keep the weeds that chokeYou out! Help me turn off the TV and get in a position to hear from You!

Tomorrow: Running on good ground!

Judy Hollaway

Originally penned 2015