Weeds and wheat
Jesus told them another parable: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man sowed good seed in his paddock. One night, when everyone was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. When the plants grew and the heads of grain began to form, then the weeds showed up.’ (verses 24-26)
Read Matthew 13:24-30
Inevitably, in every congregation there are weeds: those who haven’t taken the Lord’s word to heart; those who are searching, but perhaps in the wrong direction; those who believe they will go to heaven because they are ‘good’; those who don’t believe that their sins put Christ on the cross.
But, it’s not our job to sort the weeds from the wheat. Jesus is the farmer. He looks after the crop and provides us with all the nutrients we need. He wants us to keep looking to him and growing up to be closer to him. He doesn’t apply weedicide that could harm the crop. And he doesn’t send workers to pull out the weeds before we all reach maturity. If we take on ourselves the job of weeding, we are likely to make things worse, uprooting baby Christians whose roots aren’t properly established yet.
Leave the weeding to Jesus. Keep you focus on the farmer, not on the ‘weeds’ around you.
Lord Jesus, help me to keep my focus on you and to treat others with compassion. Amen.
by Julie Hahn, in ‘Refreshment for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2003)
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