By
Allen White
Then he left the crowd and went into the
house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the
weeds in the field.”
He answered, “The one who sowed the good
seed is the Son of Man. 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, and the
enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the
harvesters are angels.
“As
the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the
age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his
kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them
into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
Whoever has ears, let them hear. Matthew 13:36-43
Once again, the
disciples received the answer, because they asked the question. The crowd heard
an entertaining story. They left entertained, but not informed and certainly
not transformed. They were weeds standing in the field.
The Kingdom of God
is serious business. Everyone’s eternity hinges on one decision made on earth:
do I accept Christ as Savior or do I go my own way?
We live in a
tolerant world. Well, at least it’s tolerant of everyone except evangelical
Christians. But, much of this tolerance has seeped into the church. We assume
that people are informed enough about the Gospel to make a decision. If they
don’t want to follow Christ, if they don’t want to attend church, well, that’s
their decision. We have to respect their decision. Right? Wrong.
If a person decided
to kill himself, should we respect his decision? If someone decided to cheat
his investors to become rich, should we respect his decision? If someone gets
into yet another bad relationship, should we keep our mouths closed?
“Well, they’re
adults and they did make their choice.” Seriously, you’re going to cop out like
that.
The most powerful
tool at your disposal to help others is prayer. They don’t need a sermon. They
don’t need a lecture. They don’t need a judgmental attitude. They need the
power that raised Jesus from the grave activated in their lives. Your
friendship and your prayers will go a long way.
The last thing any
of us want is a forced conversation about spiritual things. But, as Rick Warren
says, “If the fruit is ripe, you don’t have to yank it.” The very last thing we
want to see is folks we care about spend eternity in Hell. For many people, you
may be the only person praying for them.
Who in your life
needs prayer? Your spouse and kids? Your neighbors? Your terrible boss? Your
co-workers? Put their names where you’ll see them and pray for them. Set a
reminder on your calendar to pray for them. Then, pray! See what God can do.
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