The Parables of My Life: Wheat or Weeds

The Parables of My Life:  Wheat or Tares

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Matthew 13:  24-30: Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 

He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

Matthew 13: 36-43

Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”

He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.

We come into God's Kingdom when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.  When we make Him our Lord, we allow Him to rule over us by being obedient to His word.  In our obedience, His glory and honor are apparent.  The Church is the Kingdom of God manifested on earth.”

When I accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord, my heart became a field of the Master’s.  The enemy of my soul had already planted seeds of doubt, fear and deception in the field of my heart.  The Holy Spirit then planted seeds from the Word of God..  As both seeds grow, I often cannot distinguish between the wheat and the weeds. 

Until the harvest.  The harvest comes forth every time the fruit of my decisions, thoughts and behaviors develops. If the fruit does not bring glory to God, it is from the seeds planted by the enemy.  The root of that must be destroyed in order to make room for spiritual fruit.   If the fruit is beneficial to the Kingdom of God, it is the fruit of godly seed.

Galatians 5 speaks about the harvest.  Galatians 5:19-26 (NKJV)
“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹ envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

It is my responsibility to tend to my own field and to cast the tares, whenever their fruit is apparent, into the purifying fire of sanctification.  The more tares I cast into the fire, the more my inheritance in the Kingdom can grow and produce the fruit of the Spirit in my life.  In the Kingdom of God, it is harvest time daily.