The Gospel is very good news: the promise of receiving God’s love, total forgiveness and a home in heaven (John 10:28-29) is so attractive to many.  These people may want to believe that God is there for them as an additional comfort to self-centred priorities and desires.  They cannot fully commit to trusting Christ alone.  Jesus said they are like ground covered by thorn bushes on the perimeter of a field (Luke 8:7).  Seed scattered there will germinate and start to grow.  But the dense undergrowth prevents the light getting in, and the seedlings die.  

The seed of God's Word is still potent (Hebrews 4:12), but the distractions of self-absorbed lives give no room for truth to develop in their lifestyle.  Their busy lives, contented with the familiarity of things that have no eternal significance, allow God’s truth some space but are hardly aware when it is eclipsed by the next passing excitement.  They live for the moment and not for eternity.  They allow worldly ambitions to smother the life out of truth until it is too late (Philippians 3:18-19).  This verse is about allowing the gospel message room to grow so that people commit themselves to the Lord’s sovereign rule.  But the principles also apply to believers whose love for God’s Word has been smothered.

Worries, riches and pleasures have one thing in common - they all encourage us to focus on ourselves.  Worries demand that we find a solution to problems by ourselves.  Money and possessions seduce us with the promise of power and fulfilment; we think we are empowered by them, but when we have got them, we change our lifestyle to serve and protect them (1 Timothy 6:9-10).  Pleasure, by its nature, is never satisfied beyond the moment; we always want more.  So instead of being free to enjoy God's blessings and be thankful (1 Timothy 4:4), we become slaves to our possessions, ambitions, learning and circumstances which demand our attention and obedience.

Even King Solomon found that kind of life gave no room to hear the Lord, and no peace of mind to explore His Word (Ecclesiastes 1:12-18).  Believers struggling with thorny issues still find that they have no desire for God's Word when they are too busy trying to be in control of life.  Whatever they do understand is quickly drowned out by the noise of immediate demands.  The real solution is to give God's Word the space to breathe into your soul (Luke 10:41).  Fail to make the Lord your priority and everything else will scream for your attention until your spiritual life shrivels to nothing.  But allow God’s Word to direct your life and see how He replaces the selfish worries, treasures and pleasures with purposefulness, peace and joy (Psalm 19:7-11).