Exodus 9-11
Matthew 15:21-39

 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.” —Romans 12:2

Since the birth of the church on the Day of Pentecost, we see the adversary seeking to suppress the truth of Jesus and leading people away from Him. It comes in the form of persecution, false teaching infiltrating the church, counterfeit spirituality and religions calling people to something other than Jesus’s invitation. In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church struggling with false teaching, he says, “…for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). The false apostles were leading people away from their sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

What is Jesus’s response to this? We can glean insight on His response from His parable about the wheat and the weeds in Matthew 13:24-30. The Son of Man sowed good seed, but the evil one came while everyone was sleeping and sowed weeds. Later, “when the wheat sprouted and formed ears, then the weeds also appeared….The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling up the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest’” (Matthew 13:26, 28-29). In other words, while the enemy sowed weeds among the wheat, Jesus was not worried about His wheat’s ability to withstand the weeds around them. In fact, He is determined it should be that way.

As Christians, some of us may be more worried than Jesus is about the activity of the devil in the culture, community or workplace around us. As a result, we want to distance ourselves from it altogether. It is easy for us to fall into the Christian ghetto mindset: to see the evils in our society around us and to retreat into our own Christian utopia, especially as parents. Yet, in the Gospels, we find Jesus going to the difficult places where Satan is active.

I have experienced moments where I have been worried for my kids as they go off to school and are surrounded by weeds. Nonetheless, I have to be reminded that Jesus is a lot more calm and not scared about what is happening in the world because He knows that He is able to make the wheat grow in the midst of adversity. If we have a child who has rejected God altogether and embraced the world, pray for them, be in their life and do not write them off, because we have no idea how God might work in their life. May we trust Jesus as He allows the weeds to grow amongst the wheat.

Gracious Jesus, I confess my fear of the weeds growing amongst the wheat, distancing myself from difficult places, but my trust in You is greater than my fear. Help me to stand for You wherever You have planted me. Thank You, Lord.