Week 32 Devo | The Parable of the Weeds

Sports are an opportunity to build better athletes and better people, but it is easy to get caught up in the wrong things on your journey. There are a lot of great things that can come from sports, but there are also a lot of distractions that can derail you.

We all have the opportunity to be great and to achieve our dreams, but we have to be willing to make the right choices and decisions along the way. The hard part is that we have to do that in environments filled with people who don't have the same goals and dreams that we have.

How do you stay focused on your goals and dreams when the people around you don't have the same goals, dreams, and habits? How do you stay focused and productive when there is junk, obstacles, and distractions in your way?

Those can be hard questions to answer, but they might be the most important questions that you can answer.

Jesus talks about the weeds that can pollute gardens in his Parable of the Weeds.

In Matthew 13:24-30, Jesus told a crowd of people:

“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

"The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?'

"'An enemy did this,' he replied.

"The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

"'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First, collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'"

In Matthew 13:37-44, Jesus explained what this parable meant:

"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."

There is a saying in basketball that, "The time will come when winter will ask you what you were doing all summer." There will come a time when we will have to answer for all of our thoughts, words, and actions. The beauty of being a follower of Jesus is that we know that God has a plan for our lives. But we also must know that the enemy, the devil, does too, and he works hard polluting your garden with bad weeds.

Whose plan are you living out?

Are you and your field going to be fruitful and productive, or will you allow the weeds to pollute you and your field, causing you to become unfruitful and unproductive? We don't do life alone. There will be good things in our lives and in our fields, and there will be bad things. The wheat will come up, but so will the junk. 

Who are you? What will you produce? What kind of person will you be? Are you going to make the right choices and shine like the sun in God's kingdom, or will your ending be the fiery furnace?

God created a world where the choice is yours.

THIS WEEK

1 - What are 3 good things in your life that make you a better person?
2 - What is 1 weed in your life that is keeping you from becoming the person you want to be?
3 - What can you do to remove or overcome the weeds in your life that are holding you back?
4 - What is one person, one story, or one Bible verse that you can lean on to help you remove those weeds?

The Bible verse that I am using is, Ephesians 6:9-13:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.

To access the Google doc version of this, click here: The Parables of the Weeds