<b><i>(Mat 13:22 NKJV) "Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.</i></b>
The hard soil prevented fruit because it was impenetrable and needed to be broken up. The stony soil prevented fruit because though it was able to receive the Word, the soil of the soul was too shallow for it to take firm root. Both of these types speak to the quality of the soil itself.
The thorny soil differs in a significant respect. This soil is fertile and ready to grow the Word, and it receives it as did the stony soil. The problem lies not in the quality of the soil itself, but in what else has been planted in that soil. These are the two basic areas that we need to focus on if we wish to give God's Word the opportunity to grow and produce fruit in our lives: rich deep soil and available room in that soil.
In the farmer's field there would often grow up thorn bushes. They had to be cleared out, but they would usually be gathered up onto the sides of the field. They kept them around for fuel. In the dry areas, often the thorn bushes were the only thing they could burn while they camped out during the planting season.
So it is with the cares and riches of this world. Like the stones, the object is not so much to get rid of them as to refocus their use and purpose. The thorn bushes provide fuel for our "fires" while in this world. We must pay attention to our responsibilities and provide for our families. Ministries often need time and money to help. We must begin to find the proper focus for these items, so like the thorn bushes were for the Palestinian farmer, a tool that enabled them to focus on producing fruit in the field, we can use our available resources to aid us in focusing the cultivation of our own hearts toward God.
The problem, however, is that we so enjoy the "fire" the thorns produce, we find others are really impressed with our thorn bushes. Or we become so concerned with running out of the material for fire that our focus shifts more towards the growing and gathering of thorn bushes than it does with growing the seed of God. Like Martha, we worry about so many things, but Jesus says there is only one thing that is needful: a relationship with God and each other. To do this requires some resources; however, we tend to think we need much more stuff than we really do in order to accomplish this "one thing needful."
In order to make more room for God in our lives, we need to simplify, thin out, and discover just how much of what we focus on is really a psychological addiction to the thing itself rather than something we really need to keep us going. Dr. Morris Weigelt, in the book "Upward Call" he co-authored, wrote a chapter entitled, "Blessed Subtraction," also called "asceticism" in the history of the Church. It is the practice of taking distractions out of your life in order to focus more fully upon our relationship with God and the growing of His fruit in the field of our heart.
Following Christ's command to "deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me," Christians through history have worked to find out how to apply that. But how do we do that? Actually, the "solution" is quite simple. Stop working on growing thorn bushes for their own sake, and begin to burn them. Begin to use them as tools to accomplish what God has for you instead of making them your goal. Well, simple to understand, but not so simple to put into practice.
The Rich Young Ruler found that out. When Christ asked him to do some blessed subtraction, to sell all he had and give it to the poor, he found that he could not give up some thorn bushes. He couldn't bring himself to burn them. Consequently, his field full of riches kept him from experiencing God, choking out the seed planted there despite the fact that he had done so much to cultivate the soil in keeping the commandments. He had good soil, but he had the wrong stuff growing in it.
This really gets at the root of what the Apostle Paul talked about in Philippians: contentment. Whether you possess a particular thorn bush or you don't, you're satisfied with the amount. In fact, you can say with the Apostle Paul that you consider all else trash, even thorn bushes, to the goal of knowing Christ.
Keep the thorn bushes around, but not in the middle of your field! Burn them to grow the Word in your life.