Hohensalzburg, Austria

In The Seeds of Life, Part 1, we discovered that many hear the message of Jesus without comprehending it, but others are rewarded when they make the effort to listen. Although the first group is left indifferent, the second group now faces three different possibilities. The first one will be the focus of today's message.

"Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful." (Mark 4:18-19 NIV)

We had finally arrived in Salzburg, Austria, and our number one priority was to visit the famous fortress, Hohensalzburg. It is reportedly the largest and most completely preserved fortification in Europe, but besides this, its impressive presence on a hill overlooking the city, as well as its 900 years of history, made it a definite "must see".

But there was something standing in the way of our visit. As we stepped off the bus that took us from our hotel to the old city, our stomachs began rumbling. Loudly. It's hard to visit a town on an empty stomach, especially where teenagers are involved, and our number one priority became secondary to that of locating food. We began hopping from one eatery to another, until we finally located one to our liking: Middle Eastern food! Yum!!!!

As usual, especially in Europe, the service was slow. It is to their benefit that the people of Europe do not understand the word "rush". I wish we could learn from them!

While waiting for our food, my kids spotted some souvenir shops, and naturally they had to be inspected. Then our food finally arrived, and we once again set out for our goal: Hohensalzburg. But there were so many beautiful churches to be visited along the way, and beautiful fountains, especially the one that had its premier in the "Sound of Music". And then there was ice-cream and statues and a little market and horse carriages… Although we were heading in the right direction, I began to wonder if we would ever get to Hohensalzburg before it closed for the day! And indeed, if we hadn't paid attention to the time, we would have found ourselves in front of closed doors, and no amount of banging and pleading would have opened them for us.

"We are closed! Come back tomorrow!"

"But we won't be here tomorrow…"

"Too bad!"

"But…but…"

Our trek to eternity is also filled with distractions. If we aren't careful, some of these will lead us off course. As innocent as they may be, some of them will make us miss our destination.

And just what might these "distractions" be?

For one thing, there is wealth. Possessions are another. And ambitions and illicit love and having unwholesome fun and worries and desires… The list could go on, but the important point is that anything that distracts us from our ultimate goal, Heaven, can be disastrous. They choke the word bit by bit, and before we know it, we end up missing the boat all together. Left with "what ifs", we are rendered hopeless and unfruitful.

We may try banging on the closed doors to eternity, but the answer will be: "I never knew you." (Matt 7:23 NIV)

Hearing and comprehending God's Word is one thing, but if we do not apply it in our lives, we become unfruitful and useless. "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock." (Matt 7:24-25 NIV)

"I wonder how far it is to Hohensalzburg?"

"Why worry about that when we have all these fun distractions!"

"But wouldn't it be nice to reach our destination?"

That is up to you to decide.

Rob Chaffart