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Deceitful riches In Mark 4:18-19, Jesus is in the middle of explaining the Parable of the Sower and narrows in on the seeds that are sown among the thorns. “They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”

What I realized as I studied this passage in the cafe was how much this is representative of those in our churches, and especially the young women. During my quiet studying, a bunch of girls passed by the Founders Cafe and I overheard one of them saying something along the lines of, “It sucks so bad that I don’t have the money right now to go shopping.” (Do I need to mention that this happened on the campus of Southern Seminary?)

I don’t mean to paint a broad stroke over every girl who enjoys shopping, or to generalize all shopping to be deceitful and evil. However, I do say this with the utmost concern for our churches that are filled with people like you and me who live in a culture that is saturated with the desire for more and more, better and better, faster and faster, and enamored by materialism and the American dream. It is the idolatrous wanting that all of us are confronted with every day — as we turn on the radio, flip through tv channels, surf the web, and everywhere we go to ‘buy’ things — that chokes us from the Word of God. And we Christians are not immune, nor are we seminarians.

While it can be suspected that women have more trouble in this area, I can testify myself that I have also struggled in slaying this temptation. We hear the Word of God, and yet we do not bear fruit — and are left to wonder why! Am I not reading the Bible enough, or praying enough, or spending enough quiet time with God? The problem, the Son of God explains, is not the ineffectiveness of the Word to sanctify us, but rather it is in the place we have kept ourselves to mitigate the Word’s effectiveness. I don’t mean to say that God is not powerful enough to our resisting Him, but that we reject God in our material lives and yet blame Him when we do not bear Spiritual fruit. The problem lies within us, and not within the LORD Almighty. (As Jesus explained, we are the thorns.)

As I meditated on this passage, my mind ached for those women in my life who suffer from actively staying in the thorn-bush. They are probably not aware that they are choking themselves from the Breath of Life with desires for deceitful riches. They blindly think that these things are God’s blessings or the harvest of their labors, and yet, after all these years of being a Christian they still wonder why they have not grown as much as others have.

The remedy Christ proclaims is so simple that He even needed to question His own Disciples as to why they do not understand — get yourself out of the thorn-bush and into the good soil.

Now!

Jeffrey Lo

awesome post, alex. i’ve been following your posts for a little while, thought i would comment on this.

so often our finite short-sightedness blinds us from pushing on and straining heavenwards for the real treasures in heaven.

hope you are well (even though i’ve never met you)!

Oct 05, 2007 @ 1:28 am

Alex S. Leung

Thanks for your comment, Jeff.

“Real treasures” reminds me of Col 3:

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

And also Matthew 6:19-22:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I guess I could have cross-referenced these in my post, but I was a bit nearsighted and only focused on Mark while writing that.

And do I know you from somewhere? Have I met you personally?

Oct 05, 2007 @ 10:31 am

julieH

Hey Alex!
My observation, in general, has been that guys are no less materialistic then girls, it just has to do with different things. Guys tend to covet the latest/greatest/coolest of cars, electronic devices, video games, cable subscriptions, computers, music, cell phone technology (do you remember the recent iPhone release?), or even the best personal libraries. Materialism is an equal opportunity offense that both genders must repent of.

Oct 05, 2007 @ 8:57 pm

continual bombardment of our consumerist culture pervades every aspect of our society. i agree that both genders deal with materialism in different ways. i always find it sobering that Christ Himself said,

“And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”” - Luke 9:58

i actually haven’t met you personally. i like to read blogs from other Christians and i found out that we’re connected through Eric Mok (from Jaffray). maybe some day i’ll actually meet you face to face!

Oct 05, 2007 @ 11:56 pm

julieH:
I cannot disagree with you there. Satan tempts us in those area where we are weakest. We must be acutely aware of those areas and protect ourselves from being choked by those thorns.

Jeffrey:
Eric Mok!? Haha you must be from Queen’s then. Pleased to meet ya and hope you enjoy your stay at my lil blog here:)

Oct 06, 2007 @ 9:56 am