The Wheat, The Weeds, & The Warning – The Weeds

You can rest assured that for everything good that God creates, the devil comes up with an imitation and uses it to deceive the souls of men and women everywhere. When I observe the lives that he has ruined, I can’t help but get angry even while my heart is breaking. The enemy of our souls is not happy with the fact that Jesus has planted us in this world as good seed. He is so afraid that we will bear the true fruits of repentance. That is why he does his own brand of sowing in this same field.

Notice that it is the same field, but the children of the wicked one are the tares. As a side note, no matter where you go, you are going to find both good and bad seed. In fact, and I know it’s hard to believe, but you will even find both kinds of seed in the local assembly.

Sometimes we act as if there is nothing evil that could go on among God’s people. Surely there couldn’t be anyone in our church who is a weed – a tare. Sadly, my experience has been to the contrary. Since I gave my heart to the Lord 44 years ago, I have found that some of the most conniving and deceitful people in the world go to church. Let me be quick to point out that they are the exception and not the rule. If you don’t believe that is true, you are living in a fantasy world

Let me just insert that this fact is not a reason to stay away from church. Those same people go to the grocery store but that isn’t a reason for you not to go. The reason you go to the grocery store is not for who else goes there but to buy food. The reason you go to church is not because of who else goes or doesn’t go, it is to worship God and learn from His Word and to fellowship with the good seed.

That said, we need to be careful because church people, in general, can gossip and backbite and bear tales as much as the world. We can become so critical of each other that we act like vultures. We carefully watch for the first sign of death. If we see someone make a mistake, we start circling, preparing to devour the wounded.

There are also those who thrive on keeping things in turmoil. One person can come in and start a tiny thread of discord that can grow into a canyon. Before you realize what has happened, the body is torn asunder, and there are casualties everywhere. We need to be so careful.

We are supposed to be the good seed. So how can such things happen? How can someone that appears to be so good be so bad? It just doesn’t make sense.

I talk about this from experience. I have been fooled by people in the past. I thought they were one thing and found out they were another. I have been drawn in by personality and didn’t discern the problems within their spirit. There have been times that I have felt like a complete failure when such things have happened. And then I read this verse…

We shouldn’t be surprised when such things happen in the midst of the church. What better weapon can the enemy use against a child of God? He thrills when we are fooled by those that we thought were good but who, in fact, are his ministers.

This parable is an illustration for us. As the weeds grow among the wheat, they sometimes look so similar that it is confusing. We have to remember that it is not our responsibility to make the distinction between the wheat and the weeds. In other words, it is not our responsibility to weed the garden. It is our responsibility to bear fruit. Let the sower take care of the weeding.

I don’t mean any disrespect, but we don’t have the spiritual insight necessary to separate the weeds from the wheat. There is only one with that insight and He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. (To be continued…)