“The cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Mark 4:19).

In many areas of life there are essential things, fundamental things, foundational things, the things that are required for the operation, the crop, the program to succeed, be fruitful, to produce the desired result. There is also the non-essential, the peripheral, those other things, that may actually hinder the success of the operation, ruin the crop and cause the program to fail.

In His parable Jesus speaks of a sower who went out to sow:

“It came to pass as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth; but when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.” (Mark 4:4-7).

In His explanation of the parable, Jesus revealed the sower was sowing the Word. The Word that fell “among thorns, are such as hear the word, but the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Mark 4:19).

Those Other Things, those cares, those deceitful things, those lusts that come in destroy the operation, the crop, the program and nothing is produced, all is unprofitable and for nought. Those non-essentials, those peripheral things, those “other” are distractions, tangents, rabbit trails that lead nowhere and produce nothing.

The Prodigal experienced those other things “wasting his substance with riotous living” (Luke 15:13). Look what those other things did to the son’s inheritance, bringing him down, destroying his wealth, and bringing his life to ruin.

Our essential life is in the Son who is the Word. Our essential life is in the Spirit who leads us into all Truth. Our essential life is in the Father in whom “we live and move and have our being” (cf. Acts 17:28). There are, however, those other things, those non-essential things that take our hearts, our minds, our bodies away from the essential and lead us astray, and cause us to drift further and further away until we are totally lost in darkness and become in desparate need of finding our way home.

Religion sometime does that to us, as well. It is not aways the “riotous living” but the religious life. Jesus describes it thusly:

“Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me’. Howebeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups, and many other such things you do” (Mark 7:6-8).

Brethren, beware those other things. Stay with the essential, the fundamental, the foundational things. The Apostle said to his young disciple, Timothy: “Hold fast the form of sound words which you have heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus” (II Timothy 1:13).

If we desire to do well, we will “fulfill the Royal Law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as youself” (cf. James 2:8). “Learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:17).

“He has shown you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).

After that, my friend, leave those other things alone.

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