音频：
视频：
马太福音13章22节 世上的思虑把道挤住
马太福音 13:22 撒在荆棘里的，就是人听了道，后来有世上的思虑、钱财的迷惑把道挤住了，不能结实。
如果你曾经有过在花园里种植的经验，你就会知道杂草生长得有多快，它会把你种下的好的植物都挤的水泄不通。例如小胡萝卜种子被野草和带刺的荆棘所压垮。主耶稣用这幅画面来说明，神的道如何进入人的心里，却很快被“今生的忧虑和钱财的迷惑”所压倒。
我看到现在的孩子非常繁忙的参加各种特长和兴趣班，以至于你想知道他们在这些活动之外是否还有真正的生活。这成了令他们沉迷和执着的事情。或许这仅仅只是他们父母所沉迷和执着的事情。如果你无法在一些特长上取得成功呢? 如果你没有因为特长而被好的学校录取呢?如果这已经成为你考虑的最多的事情，那么撒旦已经让你陷入了绝望之中，甚至可能会使你丧失了对上帝的信心。
或者，一个成年人把自己的事业作为人生中最重要的事情。晚餐后，会拿出笔记本电脑急忙回复一些电子邮件或阅读一些文件，以便提前完成明天的工作。长时间在办公室工作会让人精疲力尽，一天结束时大脑几乎停止运转。人们由于太爱这个世界的财富，以至于心里没有空间来容纳对耶稣的信仰。
耶稣把它称为钱财的迷惑 。无论是你在公司里成功晋升，还是你在运动中取得傲人成绩，潜在的谎言是，如果你成功了，你到达了顶峰，你就会很快乐。但是，当你到达顶端时，唯一的方向就是向下。但事实是，我们只有通过对主耶稣的信心，才能带给我们带来盼望和未来。
如果简单的生活能给我更多的时间和我的救世主在一起，那么这就是我的生活。我发现这是我必须不断提醒自己的事情。看看你这周的时间表。你可以在哪里做出简化，为耶稣和他的话语留下更多的空间呢?
祷告：亲爱的主耶稣，我祈祷我生命的焦点将与你一起开始和结束！当我把这个世界的忧愁抛在脑后，在你身上找到我的快乐和力量时，生活会变得更美好。当我的生活对你来说变得太忙乱时，请帮助我对这个世界的烦恼说“不”，而不是对你说“不”。奉主耶稣的名求。阿们！
Matthew 13:22:22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but ess of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
If you’ve ever planted a garden, you know how quickly weeds can spring up and crowd out the good plants which you have planted. Small carrot seeds are overwhelmed by quack grass and thistles. Jesus uses that picture to demonstrate how the Word of God can come into a person’s heart only to have faith quickly overwhelmed “by the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth.”
I see children growing up today with such busy sports schedules that you wonder if they have a real life outside of sports. It becomes their obsession. Or maybe it is really their parents’ obsession. And if you don’t make the team? If you never get recruited by a good college? If that has become the thing that you think about the most, then Satan has set you up for despair.
Or it may be an adult who makes his or her business the most important thing in life. The laptop comes out after dinner to answer some emails or read some reports to get ahead of tomorrow’s work. Long hours at the office leaves a person drained and almost brain dead by the end of the day. There is not enough room in a person’s heart for faith in Jesus and love for the wealth of this world.
And Jesus calls it the “deceitfulness” of wealth. Whether it is climbing the company ladder or being successful in your sport, the underlying lie is that if you make it to the top, you will be happy. Except, when you get to the top, the only direction is down. Only Jesus can offer us a hope and a future through faith in him.
If a simple life gives me more time with my Savior, then that’s the life for me. I find that it’s something I have to remind myself constantly. Look at your schedule for this week. Where can you simplify and leave more room for Jesus and his Word?
Prayer: Dear Jesus, I pray that the focus of my life will begin and end with you! Life is better when I leave the cares and worries of this world behind and find my joy and strength in you. When my life becomes too crowded for you, then help me to say “no” to the worries of this world instead of saying “no” to you. I ask this in your name. Amen.
马太福音13章23节
马太福音 13:23 撒在好地上的，就是人听道明白了，后来结实，有一百倍的，有六十倍的，有三十倍的。
我从明尼苏达州南部搬回威斯康辛州后，我能体会到那里的农民在预备他们的土地时遇到的困难。那些土壤在干燥的时候不容易耕作，在潮湿的时则更不可能。在我居住的明尼苏达地区，一天的降雨量大概有两英寸，如果第二天有一点阳光和微风，你就可以在地里干活。这里的土地不是8英寸的表土，而是4英尺的表土。这是世界上最好的土地之一。
但如果你有一颗愿意接受上帝话语的心，那并不是因为你生来就有那样的心。你和其他人一样是固执、刚硬和抗拒的。圣灵努力的预备你心里的土壤，好叫你欢欢喜喜地领受，并且相信他。他也继续在你的心里作工，所以当你在神的话语中成长的时候，你会更容易接受它。在你的生命中，可能有一段时间，上帝的话语对你来说不那么重要，也许是因为你很少有时间来学习。但是，如果你继续坚守在上帝的话语里面，你就越来越离不开它。
如果你现在喜爱上帝的话语，就要为此而感恩。假如你知道有人对此而冷淡，就要向他们伸出援手，鼓励他们。你可以带他们去上圣经课，每周和他们喝一杯咖啡，指导他们过一个基督徒的生活。如果上帝赐予你一颗愿意听他的话语的心，那么你也将是别人的祝福。
祷告：主耶稣，感谢你差遣你的圣灵进入我的心中，如此忠心地为你的话语作预备。我知道，真正工作的不是我的想法或选择，而是你的恩典。我祈求你的话语自由运行在世界各地的人心中，使他们能够相信你！奉主耶稣基督的名求。阿们！
Matthew 13:23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
After moving back to Wisconsin from southern Minnesota, I can appreciate the difficult that farmers have here to prepare their soil. The clay is hard to work when it is dry and impossible when it is wet. In the area of Minnesota where I lived, you could have two inches of rain on day, and if you had a little sun and wind the next day, you could work your fields. Instead of 8 inches of topsoil, there was four feet of topsoil. It was some of the best ground in the world.
But if you have a heart that is receptive to the Word of God, the good soil that Jesus is talking about, it is not because you were born with that kind of heart. You were just as stubborn and resisting as anyone else. The Holy Spirit worked hard to prepare the soil of your heart so that you would receive it with joy and believe. He continues to work in your heart as well, so that as you grow in the Word, you become even more receptive to it. There was probably a time in your life when God’s Word wasn’t so important in your life. Maybe you rarely found time for it. But now, if you have continued in his Word, you could not live without it.
If you love the Word of God today, be thankful for that. And if you know someone who does not, reach out to them and encourage them. Take them to Bible class. Have a cup of coffee with them once a week and mentor them in their Christian life. If God has blessed you with a heart that listens to the Word, then you will also be a blessing to others.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for sending me your Holy Spirit, who has worked so faithfully worked in my heart to prepare it for your Word. I know that it is not my thinking or choosing, but only your grace that has worked in me. I pray that your Word will have free course throughout the world to work in hearts everywhere to bring them to faith in you. Amen.