Think It Over
by Charles R. Swindoll

Mark 4

The bad news is this: Listening won't make the thorns go away, no matter how much we concentrate and welcome Jesus' teachings. Thorns come with the territory called depravity.

But the good news is this: Listening—I mean really giving heed to the seed—results in deeper roots and greater fruit . . . and thorns can't strangle such healthy growth.

Jesus is still communicating, but if we're not careful, we'll let our mental strangulation drown out His voice. Things that strangle us grow well in comfortable surroundings even when we look like we're listening.

In what ways might these thorns be encroaching in your life?

Worries?

The deceitfulness of riches?

The desires for other things?

Excerpted from Day by Day with Charles Swindoll, Copyright © 2000 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. (Thomas Nelson Publishers). All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.

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