Murder By Strangulation
“and the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” Mark 4:19
Choke – No Heimlich maneuver will save you. The word does not mean choking from something stuck in your throat. This is choking by strangulation. It is spiritual murder, plain and simple. In Greek, the word is sumpnigo. The added prefix, sun (in this form, sum), intensifies the action. The devil’s hands are around your throat squeezing the life out of you. Jesus knew that the good news is hand-to-hand combat. In some cases, it means just trying to breathe.
How does Satan get a grip on your throat? Jesus tells us. Our Master does not want us to be caught off guard. Satan comes after us in the most direct way possible, with worry, deceit and desire. When you start choking on what the world has to offer, you can feel his fingers squeeze. Maybe that’s why we often say in moments of crisis, “I just need a little air.”
There are depths to study in each of these three tactics. Later. Right now we need triage. Worries deny God’s sovereign goodness. Deceit that involves wealth denies God’s provision and our cosmic responsibility. And desire puts something at the top of the priority list that never should have been there. Any one of these is enough to give the devil an opportunity to close the vise. Suddenly you find that yourself gasping for breath. You are suffocating on anxiety or possessions or passions. You are going to die if you can’t get air, but Satan is not about to let go.
Imagine the poor souls who discover the good news but aren’t able to break free of the devil’s grip. Their lives are pure torture, no matter how well off they seem to be. Underneath that marvelous exterior are fears, lies and addictions. These people are not blissfully ignorant of God’s way. They just have been overwhelmed, submerged and murdered by the world’s worst and the world’s best. They can’t get out from under it all. And they never will without your help. If you are a follower of The Way, then you know someone just like this. They want a better life with Jesus. They want a deeper spirituality. But the world’s virus runs in their bloodstream. They just don’t see how it is possible to do what God says and keep what they want. And they can’t imagine life without what they think they need to survive. What they don’t realize is that they are breathing bottled oxygen and Satan has his hand on the regulator valve. Until they take off the face mask and pull loose the mouthpiece – and drown – he will always control them. No one resurrects a living person. If you want resurrection, you first have to die.
Maybe you were once a visitor to this terrible place. Maybe you know exactly what it is like to choke on what the world gives – and takes. It’s all too easy to let the distractions of this life misdirect your progress with God. Perhaps you need to take a breathing test. Where does your life come from – a world’s supply of oxygen or the free air of heaven? How do you know the difference?
