Tuesday, March 28, 2006

A Good Sower, Bad Seed, and The Enemy

Most of us have read the parable of the Good Sower. In Matthew it can be found in Chapter 13 Verses 24-30. In this parable, Our Lord illustrates how He is now growing, and how He will harvest the Church out of this Earth. These two parts strike me as important this morning.

In verses 26 & 27 we find weeds are growing in the crop. This can clearly be seen as we look around the world today. More shocking however is how the servants in the parable (us believers today) blame the Good Sower (God) for these weeds. This also can be seen all over our world today. Whenever something bad happens, or someone hurts someone else we often shake our fist at God and ask Him why He's done this. Do you also find it shocking how the first thing people often think is they are be persecuted by God, Who sent His only begotten Son into this world to die for our sins and save us from them?

What does God say about this attitude? In Verse 28 the Good Sower (God) replies to this accusation by saying "An enemy has done this."

God has not sowed this bad seed, the enemy has. A quick search of the Word finds references to the "Sons of disobedience" These are the seed of the enemy. So is God out of control then? No, Heaven forbid! God is fully in control. As sin entered the world because of the freewill choice of Man (Adam) God has allowed the consequences of this to enter the world as well.

Fear not! The war has been won and we believers have been cleansed and purchased by the blood of Christ!

In verse 28 His servants (us believers) ask Him if we should eradicate the bad seed from the crop. God replies in verse 29 & 30 saying "No, lest in gathering the wild wheat (weeds resembling wheat), you root up the true wheat along with it. Let them grow together until the harvest; ..." God's mercy for us is so great that He will not destroy the weeds as that could bring harm to the true wheat! He will remove the Church from the world (the rapture) and then He will destroy the weeds completely.

The point is, God does not cause bad things to happen. He allows them to because His response to the true cause of these things would destroy the world. And, in so doing He would harm those who love Him. This is why He is always with us through every situation, good and bad.

Oh Faithful Lord God, thank you!

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