In Jesus’ parable of the sower we may be deceived into thinking that the world has a means of drawing us into a closer relationship with Father, which Jesus addresses with the third defective soil. The seed that falls among the weeds gets choked out because of the power of the weeds. Spiritually, Jesus referred to the things of this world that distract the individual from the things of Father by deceiving them to think that love of the world can lead us to God—or that we can both love the world and the kingdom, which Jesus declared was impossible. The fact is that things of the world are attractive, and they do offer some enjoyment. If the world was the spiritual equivalent of eating vegetables, few would be tempted. At the time of this writing, I am sixty-three years old. In those years, I have never been tempted by Brussels sprouts. There is a good reason for that—I have no affection for them. However, I do have affection for coffee and dark chocolate. Like coffee and dark chocolate, the world offers dessert for our eyes and desires; hence, we are tempted.
What we fail to grasp is that the kingdom offers a better solution; if we wait a bit longer, we will be rewarded. We also get tripped up because we are all familiar with the advantages and pleasures the world has to offer, whereas we have never completely experienced the joys of the kingdom. We are required to trust the good word of Father. However, if we doubt his goodness and love, then we may also doubt the beauty of the kingdom and be tempted all the more to follow the world. We become like children who are offered a candy bar in the store. We can accept the candy, or we can trust our Father’s word that he has a much better gift for us at home. If the child trusts their father, the candy bar will not tempt him or her much, but if the child questions their father’s judgment regarding surprises, then he or she will play it safe and choose the candy bar, only to shed tears upon finding out what he or she missed at home. The question is for us is how much do we trust our heavenly Father?
David Freitag 