If you read the daily devo yesterday, you will see some similarities between yesterday’s passage of scripture and the passage we are reading today. Both passages begin with a parable, or story, that Jesus told to a crowd of people and then an explanation of that parable. Again, praise God for explanations!

Matthew 13:24-30 is titled “The Parable of the Weeds.” This parable is slightly different from yesterday’s parable, “The Parable of the Sower.” Yesterday, we spent a lot of time focusing on Jesus’ role in “The Parable of the Sower,” and we will again today, but I want to point out that in today’s story there is another character mentioned. This character is called “the enemy” and “the devil” (39). Now, I refuse to give this guy more airtime than he deserves, but I want to healthily remind you, or notify you, that we do have an enemy and he is real. Just as we have a Savior who is constantly sowing seeds of His Word and His love for us in our lives, we also have an enemy who is attempting to sow weeds in you and in your life to steal, kill, lie, and destroy (John 8, 10:10) every seed that God is wanting to sow in you and in your life.

And I don’t say this to scare you because we have nothing to fear. Jesus has already defeated the evil one and every single weapon that he could use to attempt to grow weeds in our lives. He has overcome every lie with the truth of His word. (John 8) He overcame death so that nothing could separate us from His love. (Romans 8) And to combat his efforts to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10), God gave us His Son (John 3:16), He raises us to life in Christ (Ephesians 2, Romans 6:23), and as we talked about yesterday, He is constantly spreading seeds in our hearts to create a harvest of good and Godliness in us (Matthew 13:1-9).

There’s another thing in these scriptures that often causes fear in me that I’d like to address; the end of the age (39). This is something that is often discussed and portrayed as something to be afraid of, but as followers of Jesus, we don’t have to be. Instead, we can rejoice in the fact that for eternity we get to be with the one who made our souls, loves us more than we can imagine, and broke every stronghold the enemy ever created so that we could be with Him and Him with us.

In summary, we do have an enemy who is at work in the lives of everybody in some way, but we also have a Savior, a Sower, who has already defeated that enemy. And the same power that filled the one who defeated death and sin is the same power that lives in every follower of Jesus. Find hope and rest in that truth today.

Reflection:

• In that field that Jesus was talking about in verse 24, there were a lot of wheat plants. Those wheat plants are a fancy way to say people, or followers of Jesus. Translation: We weren’t made to follow Jesus on our own. A necessary tool to combat the lies and weeds of the enemy is community – a group of friends who are following Jesus, who love one another, and who want to see each other be the best followers of Jesus that they can be. What does your community look like? Do you have a Godly community around you? If you do, I challenge you to tell them how appreciative of them you are today. If you don’t already, I highly recommend you find community in a House Church and serving team in our church. We weren’t made to follow Jesus alone.
• Prayer: I encourage you to say this prayer out loud, “God, thank You for Your Word and the truth that it brings into my life. Thank You for being honest about our enemy, but thank You even more for defeating him and all his tactics. Thank You for Your life here on Earth and for winning our battle against the enemy, sin, and death that we couldn’t win on our own. Thank You for loving me and thank You for saving me. Strengthen me so that I can follow You well today. Amen.”

Family Application: Weeding God’s Garden

Author: Scott Strahan

• Have you ever pulled weeds from a garden or flower bed? Do you know why it is important to get rid of the weeds? Yesterday, we learned a story that Jesus told to his followers that compared God’s kingdom to a garden. In that garden, the farmer planted seeds from which plants would grow that produced good fruit. In God’s kingdom, Jesus is the farmer who plants His Word in our hearts so that we grow strong in Him and produce good fruit like peace, joy, kindness, and love.
• Unfortunately, the Devil hangs out on the farm, but he’s not much of a farmer. He is not interested in producing a crop of good fruit. His goal is to do everything he can to prevent Jesus’ Garden from producing any fruit at all. The Devil does this by throwing bad seeds into Jesus’ Garden (God’s kingdom). Those bad seeds cause weeds, or tares, to grow and choke out the plants that come from the seeds Jesus planted. We should always look for the weeds in our garden and quickly pull them out so the bad things that come from the Devil’s seeds like anger, greed, selfishness, and dishonesty cannot grow. If they are left to grow, they choke out the fruit of our hearts that comes from Jesus’ seeds. We want others to enjoy the good fruit we produce rather than the bad things that happen because the weeds of Satan take root in our hearts.
• What are some of the weeds you’ve noticed in your heart and your behavior?
• Being angry or impatient with brothers, sisters, friends, or parents?
• Playing longer than you should rather than doing your homework or completing chores.
• Saying bad things that you know are hurtful or dishonoring to God.
• Prayer: God, please help me to notice the weeds in my heart and give me the courage to pull them out before they can grow. Help me to see the good fruit in others and encourage them. Remind me to love and serve others.