July 25: Matthew 13:18-23
Key Verse: Matthew 13:22
The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Devotion:
One of the biggest things which separate us from God is living amongst other people! For some reason most of us will allow the things in life to get in the way of our happiness and in the way of our relationship with God too! We get so upset by things of the world we lose sight of God and His ways, making it an uphill struggle to try and commune with Him on a daily basis.
God has warned mankind from the beginning of time about being side-tracked and lured away from Him, and yet we continue to allow the world to interfere with everything! And, no, it is not a simple task of switching it off because we have feelings and we have this sense of looking out for other people all the time.
God wants us to be very aware of others so we can help others, but He also wants us to be very aware of His presence in our lives! No matter what goes on with life and the world around us, God is always going to be close by. We see this in the very earliest manuscripts in our bibles where Job had all manner of things happen to him and his family; but he was somehow able to keep a hold of his relationship with God throughout everything – this saw him though in the end!
Most of us will give in and be taxed by the world and its ways. Most of us will give in to temptations. Most of us will get things wrong from time to time. This is just the way we are. But God watches over us and wants us to succeed!
Points to Ponder:
How often do you get things wrong?
How often do you reach out to God?