Matthew 13:22, commentary and pictures

He who receives seed among thorns hears the word of the kingdom sown to be cultivated, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke it so that he becomes unfruitful. The thorns are evil growths left in an untransformed heart, old habits, sinful practices and natural tendencies to wrong that grow without cultivation while grace lives only by careful cultivation. Even one wrong trait or cherished sinful desire allowed to remain will neutralize all gospel power, become predominant and destroy the soul. The choking is often gradual, as anxieties about gain or loss, toil and fear of want, business and ambition, pleasures and fashion absorb the mind, crowd out eternal things and diminish love for truth until love of the world displaces love of God. The thorny hearer need not remain so, for the heart as garden must be broken up by repentance, every briar dug out by earnest effort in Christ's strength, and grace cultivated by self-denial and labor for others until truth removes thorns by the roots and bears fruit.

Parable Words and Setting

The seed in the parable is Christ's teaching, the word of the kingdom and seed of truth sown in the mind, to be cultivated and gathered as precious treasure by hearts desiring light and knowledge. It is to be sown on every kind of soil, including poor soil, wherever people can be reached, and poor soil is no reason to stop sowing. Farming makes the lesson plain through sowing and reaping, revealing God's work in nature and the kingdom of heaven, for growth depends on God's power working with human skill and effort. The sower must sow with care, self-denial, continued sacrifice for others' good and the mind of Christ, trusting God to quicken the seed to life and not growing weary in well-doing. Its effect may not appear at once, for the precious seed may lie dormant until the grace of God convicts the heart and awakens it, then springing up to bear fruit to God's glory in saving many souls, revived in attentive hearers after Christ's crucifixion and resurrection and repeated for future generations to the close of time.

The thorny-ground hearer receives the word of the kingdom among thorns yet becomes unfruitful because the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke it. Earthly concerns can so occupy professed Christians that they neglect the cultivation of piety, and if unchristlike traits are not overcome they grow and kill the graces of the Spirit. Unsanctified inclinations and desires must be uprooted because they hinder Christian growth and cannot flourish alongside good in the heart. Hearing alone does not ensure fruit, since worldly cares and deceptive riches can choke the word while in other hearts the seeds of life later spring up and bear fruit.

The parable shows how different human hearts respond to Christ's teaching and helps explain why His ministry had limited immediate results. Such responses are tendencies of the human heart, not outcomes forced upon people, for each person remains free to accept or reject Him and must unite human effort with divine power to overcome sin. Its lesson applies to people of every class through illustrations drawn from familiar life. Some receive truth while their hearts are crowded by competing concerns as thorns among good seed, so they do not bring faith to maturity or develop settled Christian character. Forcing a separation too soon is cautioned against, since some who are not yet fruitful are mixed among others who could still be strengthened in the truth, and hearing does not always lead at once to fruit, for in some the gospel seed takes root and eventually yields abundant harvest as reverence and awe grow into faith.

The word may remain hidden for a time in a cold, worldly, selfish heart without showing root, yet the Spirit of God can work there and the seed may later spring up and bear fruit to God's glory. Truth heard or read may lie buried for years beneath worldly concerns and pleasing deceptions, then take root and bear fruit when sorrow or affliction softens the heart. Teaching God's Word to students is sowing seed in hearts that is not lost even when it has little visible effect and students are careless, for when the teacher's work is wrought in God some lessons linger in memory of the most careless until the Holy Spirit waters them and often after many days they spring up to bear fruit. The image distinguishes seed that merely lodges in a heart from seed that produces fruit, which is the hope for truth preached at gatherings. So it was with Nicodemus, in whom truth had been sown but for three years produced little apparent fruit while, not hostile to Jesus, he carefully weighed matters, watched His life, pondered His teachings and considered His works, showing fruit may be slow even during serious consideration.

Cares and Riches Choking

The cares of this world that choke the word are anxieties about gaining or losing, with poverty bringing toil and deprivation and fear of want and wealth bringing fear of loss and many anxieties, yet both should drive the hearer to Christ for help and comfort instead of separating from Him through distrust and refusal to give Him the burden. They also include ordinary work and concern for providing a home, which can occupy the mind and crowd out spiritual attention so the good seed cannot take root and bear fruit. Exciting pleasures and trivial pursuits absorb attention, leave no time to know God, and undo the impressions of the Word and the Spirit, preventing fruitfulness. Preoccupation with fashion and extravagance in dress consumes time and weakens God-given abilities that could serve God, teach children, and win others, while desire for earthly treasures eclipses the glory of the eternal world and causes Christ to be forgotten.

When such cares engross the mind they crowd out interest in eternal things, choke the word, and leave the hearer unfruitful, turning religion into outward form rather than willing, joyful service with God and souls first. Self-examination and secret prayer are neglected, spiritual watchfulness weakens, and access is opened for deception and dulled senses. Neglect extends to religious fellowship that would strengthen the soul, to family religion, and to the Lord's work, with love of fashion and lack of religion turning attention from light already received. Earthly concerns divert the mind and keep truth from taking lasting hold so that efforts to present it prove nearly fruitless. Christ sought to turn minds from earthly things to heavenly things, whereas leaders who turned from true knowledge and distorted Scripture to support traditions and man-made observances left its power ineffective.

The deceitfulness of riches is a gradual snare working by false promise, for hearers may value truth at first and then become absorbed in gaining and keeping wealth while telling themselves they will later use it to help God's cause. Anxiety about gaining or losing makes temporal concerns seem more important than spiritual privileges, and endless work and accumulation come to be treated as duty even for the good of the cause. As worldly treasure grows, love for truth and willingness to give and to part with means diminish, even while profession of belief continues. Prosperity draws the heart away step by step, consuming time and attention and spending means on personal comfort, vanity, pride, praise, and business concerns instead of God's glory and faithful use of what is His. At last love of wealth with worldly pleasures and honor turns the heart from once-loved truth, displacing love of God and truth, and this deception can overtake even those who believe themselves free from selfishness and pride.

Riches draw the heart by the principle that where treasure is there the heart is also, so love of money cannot be joined with keeping God's law and affections must be set on heavenly things with treasure laid up in heaven. Earthly possessions are only lent by God to advance His work and must not be cherished as idols, for money has value only as opportunity for doing good, blessing the needy, and advancing His cause. When riches become master the hearer serves mammon, and entrusted goods become a test of character in which allowing them to deceive and conquer brings loss of the soul and eternal life with no title to heaven. Escape requires watching, praying, working, seeking enduring things, diligently keeping the heart, refusing selfish use of money apart from God's counsel, removing treasure to heaven, and fastening affections on God and immortal treasure with a noble, liberal spirit of love to God and neighbor instead of close, penurious self-interest.

This choking takes specific form in human ambition and preoccupation with buying, selling, and gain, against which the instruction of the parable is a warning to be heeded. It appears in speculative offers and costly pursuits that lure into work not appointed by God and tie up means needed for God's cause, and in large impulsive investments made without conviction that leave entrusted means unavailable when truth is to be raised in new fields. When business matters become all-engrossing without Christ presiding, a multitude of cares chokes growth so there is no fruit to God's glory, putting speculation and enterprise in place of Christ's religion, robbing God, defrauding the soul by neglect of doing the word, and producing self-importance, loss of dependence on God, and shipwreck of faith. The thorns are constantly increasing speculations that leave God and heaven out of the reckoning, overbalancing truth, blinding spiritual eyesight, and showing themselves in neglected Bible study, neglected home religion, broken-down family altars, abandoned first love, and Christ's religion expelled to give place to business.

Thorns Within the Heart

The thorns are sin and evil growths left in an untransformed heart, old habits and sinful practices and natural and cultivated tendencies to wrong and objectionable traits of character. Sin grows without cultivation, while grace thrives only by careful cultivation through continual preparation and purification of the heart under divine control, with the Spirit refining the character. Unless the former life of sin is left behind and evil attributes are expelled, and unless truth is cherished and weeds rooted out, those influences grow until they overwhelm and kill the crop of truth. Mere profession of belief is of no avail without sanctification by the gospel, for a divided heart may profess to accept Christ while wanting the crown but refusing the cross and leaving no room for Him. Jesus watches the life history and sees choking thorns grown for years, checked but never fully uprooted because temptation is yielded to, so that at times only the tops are cut off while the living root remains ready to shoot again when circumstances favor, and nurtured by indulgence the thorns grow unchecked until they occupy the field, shade the tender plants of heavenly origin whose roots were never in prepared soil, and supplant them as evidence the life is not under heavenly control.

Even one wrong trait of character, one cherished sinful desire, or one wrong habit permitted to bias the character will, if not overcome, choke the word and neutralize all the power of the gospel. That single thorn becomes a predominant power that destroys the soul, so the thorns must be killed or they will kill the hearer, with no parley with the enemy. Cherishing a sinful desire proves delusion of soul, and every indulgence strengthens aversion to God, while the pains of duty and the pleasures of sin are cords binding men in snares. Sound religious instruction cannot save a child if the wrong habit is left to grow, and only those who would rather die than do a wrong act will be found faithful. The fallow ground of the heart must be broken up deep and thorough, and the plowshare of truth must tear out the weeds and briers.

Named moral thorns include pride, passion, self-love, love of the world, envy, malice, selfishness, covetousness, an unkind spirit, vain conversation, and love of worldly fashions. People can hear truth and give it place in the heart yet fail to cherish it or prepare to receive it deeply, because cares of life, attraction of riches, forbidden desires, and these faults crowd out love of righteousness and keep the word from bearing fruit. Like weeds in neglected soil these faults must be continually and thoroughly rooted out by patient earnest effort in Jesus' strength to remove evil tendencies of heart. Selfishness, covetousness, and an unkind spirit must be removed even when the work is painful, or they will corrupt the whole person and harm others, requiring careful attention to character and separation of evil from the life. Pride, love of worldly fashions, vain conversation, and selfishness choke the good seed and leave a person spiritually cold without living experience of God, with eternal consequences, and when opposing influences overcome faith the person falls into a worse state than before hearing the word of life.

Thorns also include cares, riches, and pleasures, love of money and friendship with the world, and desire for worldly gain and enjoyment. A profession of faith that produces no good works is not living faith, for love of money and friendship with the world eat away spiritual life and keep people from bearing fruit to God's glory. Cares, riches, and pleasures are used as tares, briars, and thistles in the contest for human souls, and if not dug out and uprooted as soon as they appear they germinate, spring up, choke the word, bear their own harvest, and make the hearer unfruitful. Earthly possessions bring temptation and trial over property, with evil working to encourage selfish disposition and love of the world that can be overcome only by watchfulness and prayer, since what is held has only been lent to advance God's work. Again and again the heart is affected and comes almost to sacrifice under the warming, quickening influence of the Spirit, but without full consecration the saving influence wears away, the spirit of sacrifice is lost, love of the world revives, treasure is served instead of God, and the world comes in and chokes the good seed so it produces no fruit to God's glory until love of the world displaces love of truth and leaves the person joined to idols.

Thorns include skepticism hidden under science and philosophy, which can take attractive appearance, lead the young to doubt the Bible, and grow into infidelity, including through books that partly conceal skepticism or mix Scripture with fanciful interpretations and thus take root in young minds to produce a harvest of infidelity. Habits of concealment and deceit are thorns that choke the seed of candor and truth planted in a young person and keep it from bearing good fruit. Dwelling on minor matters and faultfinding with others becomes poisonous weeds that choke the seed while a person neglects his own spiritual welfare, calling instead for attention to important truths of faith and cultivation of the seed in his own heart. Surface hearing that gathers chaff and passes precious treasures of truth as of no consequence, with love of talk and perverse speech, sows evil seed broadcast into minds to bear a harvest to the injury of souls and leaves the hearer unfruitful rather than a witness. The religion of Christ is choked out when self remains unmelted and those in responsibility put their own ideas and works before His words and works.

Condition of Thorny Hearer

The thorny hearer professes belief and takes a position on the Lord's side while remaining unconverted, receiving truth only by halves without true conviction of sin. Knowing and professing truth does not itself change the heart, for without faith working through love that purifies the soul the person remains unconverted. Without letting truth cleanse the soul-temple from defilement the light is not strengthened by practice, and this describes those who profess to know God and possess truth yet are overcome by the world and by love of the world that leaves no room for Christ. Such a divided heart wants the crown while refusing the cross, cherishing competing thoughts, desires and sins that keep the good seed from thriving until separation and consecration of every faculty take place.

Having no root in himself, with natural and cultivated tendencies to wrong unchanged by grace, he does not constantly follow true Christian principles nor go on from grace to grace. The interest once felt in truth continually fades and sinful practices return, though profession of Christianity may continue without honoring God's truth. At last he becomes hardened to all good impressions, growing careless, worldly and inattentive, hearing truth but not receiving it, neither cold nor hot for a time before hardening is complete.

The choking is often gradual, for truth may first be received eagerly, studied with joy, and even begin to bear fruit before worldly cares and love of other things gain control. Strong impressions awakened by hearing must be firmly fixed and cherished, or other attractions divert the mind and the seed proves fruitless for want of cultivation. New and attractive scenes, earthly attractions and unimportant things engage the mind and please the carnal heart more than unpopular Bible truth, displacing precious truth, silencing the Spirit's convictions and causing the loveliness of Christ to fade until the word dies. The enemy also takes away its force, for evil agencies mingle with hearers to suggest, criticize, misapply, misinterpret and misconstrue, so that words of life lose their force and hearts are not moved to fruitfulness.

To be choked means the sacredness of present truth is not discerned or appreciated, truth is not revealed with power in the life, and holiness, devotion to the Master's service and the sanctification that comes from belief of the truth are entirely lacking. Profession then produces no good works, and this unfruitfulness is the Laodicean condition, in contrast to bringing truths of inestimable value into practical life. It was seen also in the Pharisees, whose hearts were barren, hopeless and profitless soil where heavenly truth could not take root because a self-exalting spirit and cherished feeling of superiority claimed all faith, honor and love. Out of that condition came hard words of reproof and condemnation crushing hope and courage, evil thoughts, suspicion even of the purest, making a man an offender for a word, and roots of bitterness defiling many.

The end is a worse state than before hearing the word of life, for because light was not cherished or strengthened by practice it is soon quenched, leaving greater darkness than before. If riches conquer, the deceitfulness of riches chokes the word unto unfruitfulness and loss of the soul and eternal life, with no title to heaven and no right to eternal life. Loving money and serving self surrenders God-given gifts and leads captive, ending under the Master's sentence upon the unprofitable servant to be bound and cast into outer darkness, with bitter anguish over selling soul and body for gain and sacrificing heaven from fear of sacrificing money to obtain it. Such apostasy, as when a call to self-denial and self-sacrifice offends and the hearer walks away, is not the fault of the gospel.

Uprooting Thorns Bearing Fruit

The thorny hearer need not remain thorny, for the harvest turns on the condition of the soil and not on any failure in the seed. Each one is answerable for resisting the Spirit, growing inattentive to the word, neglecting it, and letting worldly things distract the mind until growth is checked. The Spirit works to break that absorption and to awaken desire for imperishable treasure, so the choice to cherish or to neglect the word decides whether it lives or dies.

The heart is a garden and seed-plot that must be plowed, harrowed, broken up, subdued and reclaimed before the gospel seed can find favorable ground. That breaking up is repentance, with conviction of sin and its danger, and with diligent searching as with a lighted candle so that every defect is seen in the light of God's law as the standard of character. Every briar and thistle must be dug out and uprooted as soon as it appears, not merely cut off at the top, for if tares, briars and thistles are left they germinate, spring up, choke the word, bear their own harvest and leave the hearer unfruitful. Surface work and haphazard half-effort betray themselves in the harvest gathered, while only deep, thorough work in which the plowshare of truth tears out weeds and briers, and only earnest effort in Christ's name and strength, can overcome evil tendencies, just as raw land and land overgrown with thorns yields nothing without diligent, persevering labor in preparing, sowing and culturing. Even one wrong trait of character, one cherished sinful desire, one wrong habit allowed to bias the character will, if not overcome, choke the word, neutralize all gospel power, become predominant and destroy the soul, and sound instruction cannot save a child while such a habit is left to grow, but only those who would rather die than do wrong will be found faithful. Those who receive truth by halves, without true conviction and without letting truth cleanse the soul-temple and sanctify the life, soon have their light quenched into greater darkness, and when a call to self-denial and sacrifice is presented, such as tithing, they grow offended, walk away from Christ and sell their birthright for worldly advantage, yet such apostasy is not the fault of the gospel. Children and youth are to learn this correspondence between natural and spiritual sowing by practical work in preparing soil, sowing seed and tilling the ground.

Grace thrives only in a heart continually prepared for truth and kept under God's control, through continual preparation and purification with the Spirit refining and disciplining the character. Unless the former life of sin is left behind, old habits and sinful practices forsaken, objectionable traits removed, selfish purposes taken away and attributes of Satan expelled, sin grows until it overwhelms the truth, weeds stunt or kill the crop, and profession without sanctification is of no avail. Either victory is gained over sin or sin gains the victory over the person. The seed is kept from choking when believers are taught from the first to live Christ's life, bear burdens, deny natural inclination, follow Him in self-denial, endure hardship, trust Him with cares and work for Him, for love and labor for the lost turn attention from self and weaken the world's power to attract or dishearten, so that truth removes thorns by the roots. Cares of poverty in toil, deprivation and fear of want, and cares of wealth in fear of loss and many anxieties, should drive the burdened to Christ for help and comfort, but when trust fails and burdens are not given to Him those cares separate the soul from Him. As uncultivated land yields no harvest without hard work, the heart bears no fruit to God's glory unless the Spirit works upon it and the truth when fully accepted keeps preparing it for continual sowing.

Hearts overgrown with thorns shut heavenly things out and shut Christ out, so that He knocks in vain for admittance. The thorns that bar Him are life's cares, burden and business cares, worldly care and perplexity, selfishness and covetousness, and plans to heap up money for selfish gratification. To the weary and heavy-laden thus yoked He holds out exchange of the galling yoke of selfishness and slavery to mammon for His easy yoke and light burden of meekness and lowliness of heart, self-denial and sacrifice for others, bringing peace and rest to the soul, a peace and rest never known by those who refuse relief and keep the yoke of selfishness.

Sowing and nurture call for personal effort to cultivate the soil and to keep the seed from loss by seeing that it takes root. Prayer meetings prepare the way by building confidence and weakening prejudice, and publications, papers and pamphlets prepare the minds of readers for preaching. Preaching bears fruit when it presents Christ and His redeeming love together with the theory of truth, teaches point by point the truths of eternal interest, holds Bible readings, fastens points and texts in the mind, invites questions and answers them in the plainest simplest manner, and carries minds along guardedly with practical godliness woven into doctrine, in a dignified godlike manner that gives heavenly character to the work. Sermon after sermon heard without such point-by-point fastening leaves only a few points that soon lose force while other things come in to choke the seed, so sermons cut short by half would be more beneficial. Hearts softened by suffering and under divine influence are to be met gently, as when physician or nurse shares God's promises and points the sufferer to Jesus, and those convicted who wish to accept truth need continued support and personal acquaintance that gains confidence, lest opposition from ministers, friends and acquaintances take the truth away or lack of nurture leave it rootless.

Warnings for Daily Life

Stewardship tests reveal whether the seed fell among thorns, for the thorny hearer takes a stand on the Lord's side yet is not truly converted, having received truth by halves without true conviction of sin and without letting truth cleanse the inner temple from defilement. When a specific demand for self-denial and self-sacrifice is presented, such as tithing, such hearers become offended and walk away from Christ rather than with Him, showing that thorns have sprung up and choked the word. Because the light of truth was not strengthened by practice it is soon quenched, leaving them in greater darkness than before, yet such apostasy is not the fault of the gospel. In this selling of the birthright for worldly advantage, Satan plays the game of life for souls through cares, riches, and pleasures, and unless those briars and thistles are dug out as soon as they appear they germinate, spring up, choke the word, and leave the hearer unfruitful. The heart must therefore be searched diligently as with a lighted candle, that every defect may be seen in the light of God's law as the standard of character.

The deceitfulness of riches ensnares the soul and must be turned from with earnest, determined effort, lest love of money endanger eternal life. Entrusted money must not become a source of deception or be handled on impulse, but stewards should pray for wisdom and invest only from conviction to advance God's work and save souls. Making large, unwise investments and moving by impulse ties up entrusted means so they cannot be used when the cause needs them as truth advances into new fields, and allowing pressure to shift responsibility to other men leaves the steward deceived by the arch-adversary. The more a person possesses, the less readily he sees the needs of God's cause or hears the call to give, so attachment to wealth can make that call sorrowful and hard to obey. Withholding from God's cause while entrusting to family and serving treasure instead of God is the same choking of the word unto unfruitfulness.

Worldly cares and desire for wealth can fill the heart so completely that heavenly things have no room and the word bears no fruit, with love of the world becoming a ruling passion that enslaves the mind to mammon and diverts affection and effort from God, service to others, and salvation. Possessions, business, and selfish interests then become excuses for refusing Christ's call, leaving no room for self-denial and benevolence. The pursuit of wealth absorbs the mind, makes religion secondary, blinds and deceives the soul to God's voice and eternal treasure, and displaces love for God. Even one convinced of truth and beginning to love it may through worldly attachment and covetousness be crowded out until doubts arise and instruction can no longer be received or benefited from. Covetousness as a choking weed makes even those benefited by the word prize it lightly and withhold support from those who labor to teach it.

When business matters are allowed to become all-engrossing without Christ presiding, a multitude of cares chokes the growth of the good seed so there is no fruit to God's glory, putting speculation and enterprise in place of Christ's religion. Such loading down with business cares until spiritual things are neglected and fervor in serving the Lord is lost is sin against God, robbery of Him whose property men are, and defrauding of their own souls by neglecting to be doers of the word. Trusting finite wisdom without feeling dependence on God for every breath makes men self-important and self-exalted by losing sight of Jesus, bringing grievous mistakes and shipwreck of faith. The choking shows itself everywhere in neglected family and home religion, broken-down altars, abandoned first love, and Christ's religion expelled from the soul, which does not please God. Watching, praying, working, and putting God and souls first are therefore required lest faith be swallowed and religion become mere outward form.

For children and youth the heart as soil must be prepared early, for in early life when the mind is impressionable good seed sown in good soil bears fruit unto eternal life, while neglect leaves the mind overgrown and unfruitful. Parents should cultivate minds and form correct habits rather than spend time following worldly fashions, sowing seeds of truth from the earliest years so the word can take root and bear fruit rather than be crowded out. The good fruit seen in children comes from seed of instruction planted in prepared soil, where early teaching takes lasting root. Good principles and longing for righteousness and truth in children need protection from sin's allurements, with firm discipline developing the self-control needed to keep the seed from being choked. Steady vigilant correction removes natural imperfections, guards principles, persists in planting deep, and refuses to withdraw loving care lest tender hearts be blighted into fields of thorns.

The mind is soil composed of what it feeds upon and must be carefully cultivated and sown with Bible truth, otherwise harmful influences take root and bear evil fruit. Trashy, exciting tales and common fictitious storybooks are weed seeds and a mass of rubbish thrown into the mind, captivating thoughts, directing them into a wrong channel, obstructing the channel for truth, and unfitting the mind for God's impress and the great work given it to do. When the field is thus preoccupied God cannot find soil prepared for the heavenly seeds of the precious plants of truth, leaving the mind unprepared for the impressions He would make, and the more powerful the mental capabilities the greater the evil when thus perverted. The thorns are weed and bramble seeds sown by all kinds of such reading growing into corrupting, poisonous plants, bearing thistles and briars that choke out precious seeds that should germinate, spring up, and grow. They must not be allowed to be sown, or hard weeding will be required, and once germinated into vigorous life they must still be weeded out with diligent watchfulness, which is not easy work, while instead reading should shed light on Scripture, strengthen desire to study it, and furnish themes for meditation on eternal realities with sanctifying, refining influence fitting for usefulness in this life and for immortal life.

Cares of this life and deceitfulness of riches can take such powerful hold that they choke the word and eclipse heaven's attractions, leaving the hearer unfruitful, bewildered and beclouded in mind like a drunken man, insane in worldly pursuit and busy excitement like worldlings. For those looking for Christ's second coming this condition causes them to cease to watch and to forget their peculiar waiting position, becoming surfeited and drunken with life's cares, so right waiting joins zeal and diligent industry to watching, refusing both idleness and absorption in worldly matters that stops watching. Worldly enterprises and anxious efforts to secure wealth turn attention from heaven, eclipse faith, and weaken longing for His return, while turning from them and watching shows the word is not choked. When worldly interests engross time and attention that should be given to the Lord's work of proclaiming the third angel's message and presenting the truth about the Lord's Sabbath while a false Sabbath stands before the world and millions pass into eternity in delusion, talents are buried in the earth and light is hidden under a bushel. Worldly concerns thus divert even those who know truth from warning others, causing them to hide their light and neglect responsibility, while selfish desires, excuses, and indifference hinder sharing truth and leave it unfruitful.