Wheat Among Weeds – July 28, 2023

“The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one . . . Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Matthew 13:38,43

Wheat Among Weeds

It’s not easy being wheat among weeds. Weeds can take up valuable nutrients in the soil. Weeds can choke the life out of a healthy plant. Weeds can rob a healthy plant of life-giving water and sunlight. Yet if that wheat grows, it can still carry out its purpose. Stalks of ripe wheat provide food for people and animals. As for the weeds, they have no purpose. They get torn out of the ground. They get thrown in the trash or burned.

It’s not easy being wheat among weeds. Sin in our lives robs us of God’s good gifts of time, ability, and wealth. The worries of this life, the demands on our time, the reality of evil in our world can choke our trust in Christ and his promises. Our sinful natures inside of us don’t want us to prioritize time with Jesus in the study of his Word or time receiving God’s good gospel gifts in worship. Instead, the weeds of this world threaten our faith and oppose every attempt we make to live for Christ.

Yet Jesus calls us to live as wheat among weeds. He gives us life so that we may carry out the purposes he has given to each of us—to be fruitful with the gifts he’s given us, to be faithful in demonstrating his love to every person he puts in our path to serve, and to be mindful that he is coming again to deliver us from evil. So we need not fear what the weeds can do, but rather we live as wheat planted by our God, who will one day give us life eternal and cause us to shine with his righteousness forever.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, help me to live as wheat even among the weeds of evil in our world. Keep their threats far from me and cause me to be fruitful, faithful, and mindful until you come again in glory to deliver me from evil. Amen.