VBS Message 2025

 

What was this week all about?

OK, Monday was about remembering those who gave the last full measure of devotion for their country. It was about those who gave their todays for our tomorrows. We should remember those who did not return every day that we live in liberty.

The rest of the week was this thing called Vacation Bible School or VBS. But why?

Why do VBS?

It’s not that anyone who was teaching or making snacks or leading songs didn’t have anything else to do this summer.  Do you know anyone these days with time on their hands?

So why?

It’s a money maker for us, of course. Not. VBS is fairly expensive in time, resources, manpower, and money. 

So why VBS?

Parents, would you let you children experiment with drugs so they could decide if they wanted to use heroin or meth or maybe a little acid? Would you let their 12-year-old mind contemplate those choices without some education and counsel?

Parents, would you just give you 9-year-old the car keys and say, “Good luck” or send them to the tattoo parlor with $200 and then go to Wal-Mart for a couple hours and see what your kid looks like when you come back?

So you thought a swastika on your forehead would be cool? Oh, it was a by one-get one deal. You got a what, where? At least it was on sale.

Would you just let them eat junk food all the time? It’s their body and their choice, right? I can’t believe that some of you let your kids eat frozen chicken nuggets. Put those things in the microwave for 38 seconds first.

The world will tell you just those things. The world will tell you to let your child choose their own gender even though your child may not understand gender. Many of them are still wondering about cooties. If you follow the science, there is really no such thing as a sex change.

You can play Mr. Potato Head all you want, but you were born with two Xs or an X and a Y, and you can’t change that.

What’s that got to do with VBS?

Would you let your child go through their formative years without education, guidance, or counsel?  Do you want them to know the truth?

Of course we do!

So, is the purpose of VBS to indoctrinate? No, it is to educate.  But what then?

Then, these young people need to look at the examples of those who believe in God and profess his Son, Christ Jesus as Lord. It’s simple education and example.

The education part sounds good, but I don’t know a single Christian who hasn’t made a whole bunch of mistakes, some very serious.

And for those who have been educated in the ways of the Lord, we know that the world doesn’t always forgive, but God does.

God forgives!  For the believer, God has promised to forgive us whenever we confess our sins—our missteps, our mistakes, our attempts to hit the target of right living that just missed the mark.

God forgives.

There is a way in which we should go that God has prescribed. It is for our own good and we are blessed to follow it, but nobody can get it right every time.

Don’t throw in the towel because God has loved you with an everlasting love. He knows you and your struggles as well as your victories. He knows you and he loves you.

Why VBS? People need to know:

·       God is real. He is more than a concept.

·       God is good. God alone can define what is good.

·       God is important. He is not an option. He is central to life.

·       Knowing God is important.

·       Trusting God is important.

·       Receiving God’s love through Christ Jesus is important, most likely the most important thing anyone of us will ever do for ourselves.

·       Bringing up our children in the way they should go is absolutely important, and surely the most important thing you will do for them. Parents, don’t leave your children’s future to chance. Bring them up in the way of the Lord.

VBS is about education. It’s not just rules to follow but what happens to us when we fall short, and we all fall short.

VBS is about knowing that God will always love you and wants the best for you. His law was given for our own good.

His forgiveness comes from a divine heart of love. He did not create us to throw us away but for us to realize everything that we can from life. God wants us to have full lives.

I didn’t say trouble free lives for you will have trouble in the world.

Do you want to know how much God loves you? While we were still sinners Christ died to take away our sins. God through Christ did everything to make us right with him.

I see this meme too often online. I sinned more than you could imagine, but God dropped the charges.  It sounds good but it is nonsense. God did not drop the charges. You were charged and found guilty. The sentence was death.

Jesus stood in your place and took your punishment so you could live. The gift of God that we know in Christ Jesus is life, life abundant, and life eternal!

It’s a gift. We did nothing to earn or deserve it. We have nothing to brag about. It is 100% gift.  All we have to do is receive it. We receive it in our profession of faith.

One day, these VBS students will wrestle with the idea of life and the many theories of what life is all about. They may flirt with worldly models and concepts. They may explore the world’s religions.

In my day, many were becoming Buddhist because it was the cool thing to do. Some explored other Eastern religions. The common denominator among them is the ultimate goal in life is to reach a state of nonexistence.

Some of us grew up with cogito, ergo sum or I think, therefore I am. That was Rene Descartes for those who want to fact check this message.

I think, therefore I exist, but my life goal is not to exist. Tom has to put that one in the that dog don’t hunt category.

I’m not here to beat up Eastern religions, but I hope that we train our children to think about and become educated about what they say they believe.

I can’t imagine what it was like to grow up as a child in my household. One of the kids would say “I’m all about that,” or “This is what I believe,” and Tom—Dad—would say, “Let’s examine that.”

So much for casual dinner conversation. I’m sure that ranked right up there with reading A Message to Garcia a dozen or more times. That’s each, not total.

One day, these young people will need to make some serious life choices. Most of these children are not quite mentally or emotionally equipped at this time to wrestle with what God says and what the world says. They rely on their parents for a while and we pray they believe in the one true God and the One he sent to do what we could never do—make us right with holy God.

This week these young folks learned about magnifying the Lord. On the surface, it sounds like an oxymoron. How can we—people created by God—make God appear greater than he is?

In the context of this week and most of the Bible, magnify is to exalt—to lift up and proclaim God’s greatness and righteousness and most of all, his love.

It is for others to see God in our very lives. My heart, my soul, my very being exalts the Lord. The Lord is magnified as he lives in me and I live out his commands the best that I can.

Others will not see a faultless human just because we profess Jesus as Lord. They will see a fault-filled human who is forgiven. We are forgiven!

I hope that these VBSers—when you are the preacher, you get to make up your own words—know these things:

·       God is Great!

·       God is Good!

·       God loves us!

·       God wants us to believe in him and profess his Son as our Lord.

·       God want others to see his love in us so much that we are known as his followers by our love.

Do you remember how we began our service?

GOD LOVES YOU – LOVE ONE ANOTHER

There is more to it, of course, but if these VBSers—I have used that term twice now so it’s officially a word—can remember that God loves them and they are to love each other, the week was a success.

And if they know this, magnifying the Lord becomes our first nature. Exalting God is always on their minds.

OBTW—God loves you, love one another applies to parents as well.

Kids, remember what you learned and learn more, for one day, the world will try to teach you anything but the truth. Give yourself a chance to Stand firm when the world wants you to give in to whatever it is selling this year or decade or century.  Stand firm in the truth.

Parents, while you have the chance and these years go by so quickly, bring them up in the way of the Lord.

·       Do not let them become victims of your own comfort zone.

·       Lead them to worship.

·       Bring them to Bible Study.

·       Pray at home.

·       Forgive as God has forgiven you.

·       Be an example of love. Be known by your love.

One day, these young folks are going to ask, “What is the purpose of life? Why am I here? Why am I alive? Why?”

I hope they come to this conclusion or something like it. The purpose of life is to bring glory to God and to enjoy him very much.

Our lives should be lived so that God is glorified through them.

Note, the second part of that is not to enjoy life but to enjoy God. That’s part of our purpose. As it turns out if you are enjoying your relationship with your Creator, you are very likely enjoying life—even in the struggles and trials that come with it.

Bring glory to God and enjoy him very much.

I have covered quite a bit, so, we will wrap up our short time together with something to take home that is easy to remember.

GOD LOVES YOU – LOVE ONE ANOTHER

Amen.

Dear Mom...

Dear Mom,

I want you to know how much I enjoy going to church.  Really, I don’t go to church.  I am a part of the church.  The church is that group of people who follow Jesus.  I learned that and like it.

I wanted to say thank you for letting me go.  I will probably go a few more years before I stop.  It’s not a thing that older people do.  It can’t be for real or you would go too, but it’s fun for now.

I believe in God and in Jesus and that he died to take away my sins, but that can’t mean too much or you would lead me to worship him.  It can’t be that important.

We make it to most of the ball games and town events and never miss a weekend of bingeing on movies.  We go to the lake and never miss a game on the big screen.  If this worshiping God was important, we would do that too.  I trust you that it can’t be that important.  I trust you!

I know that your life is tough, and you are tired most of the time.  I guess that is what I will be soon, once I stop this Jesus stuff.  Really, what’s the point.  You have your reasons not to go.  I will just use your reasons in a few years.  I will be just like you.

I really enjoy the Christmas presents and other cool stuff that you get me, but all of that stuff just wears out over time.  They tell me that Jesus wants us to live forever with him.  I wish that were true, but I’m sticking with you and not buying this God loves me stuff.

I will keep going to worship and classes for now so you can have a break, but don’t worry.  One day I will be just like you and skip all of this God is love nonsense.  I know it can’t be true.  You tell me that you love me and these church folks tell me that God loves me.  I want to believe but I won’t betray you.  I will be just like you and start making my list of reasons not to give up my Sunday mornings to worship God.

Don’t worry.  One day I will have a standing list of reasons at the ready as to why I can’t go or participate or serve God in any way.  I may take some of those excuses and expand them for work when I have a job or for my own kids to use at school when some teacher challenges them to be their best.  Don’t worry, I will be faithful to what you have taught me.

Just to make sure that I don't backslide into the ways of the church, I will criticize those who beckon me to come and worship the Lord or challenge people to respond to God's grace by love and obedience.  I won't fall into that trap.  I will stay on the sidelines with you and fight to remain apathetic and ambivalent about life.

If you don’t mind, I would like to keep going for a little while longer.  These people who are the church are always kind and loving to me.  They smile when they see me.  Most give me a hug.  They know what God says about just about everything.  They actually believe what God says.  It’s really cool stuff, but don’t worry, I won’t let you down.  I will stay away and be content in my reasons for not going soon enough.

I want to be just like you.

Love…

Speak the Truth to Each Other

Read Zechariah 8

The guy flies by you in his fancy sports car with a duct tape fix on his left rear taillight then swoops right in front of you.  What was wrong with the two miles of empty interstate ahead that he couldn’t have gone a couple more car lengths before he changed lanes.

Now you find yourself on his bumper and you are angry, so you anger lingers and you ride his bumper for the next 22 miles before you have to get a better station on the radio or pick out an 8-Track tape and lose you interest in the yahoo leading this pairing of knuckleheads.

Fortunately for me, my new car will back off when an idiot armed with a car cuts in front of me.  It keeps a safe distance.  I don’t let my anger burn for very long.

We can get angry and then not be angry a short time later, often the transition goes unnoticed by us.  It’s some yahoo, some idiot, some stranger with whom I have no other relationship with other than we share the same road.  Anger passes.

When you deal with loved ones, anger can be more intense and sometimes more lasting.  Most people hold in their anger for a long time and put up with a whole lot, until one day OMG!  Here comes the anger and everything built up behind it.

It was sort of like that with God.  He loved his people.  He put up with much apostacy.  He warned his people and they did not listen.  He warned and they did not listen.  He warned and they did not listen.

Some of you might be thinking of raising your teenagers.  Others might be thinking to their own teenage years.  Warned but did not listen.  Warned but did not listen.

OK, for some it was their thirties and forties before they listened.

God showed much mercy and grace to his own chosen people until he decided that enough was enough and stood back from protecting them from the nations around them and let them be scattered to Syria and Babylon.  

Others fled the pagan conquerors to parts unknown.  But even this judgment executed by the pagans was God’s love.  He would not forget his people or let them grow even farther away from him.

Enough was enough and many of God’s people went into captivity.  And then God thought that enough was enough and he returned them to the land that he had given them.  But what relationship would God and his people enjoy?

God kept the enemies away and sent rains in season and the people began to prosper once again.  The people started feeling good about themselves once again, but did God feel good about them?

Would they return to their former ways?  Would the sinful and selfish human heart rule them once again? 

God, through the prophet Zechariah, sent words of counsel.

“Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the Lord.

We don’t see God using the H-word too much in our Bibles.  God hates the practices of the Nicolaitans.  God hates divorce.  God hates falsehood.

You want to anger your heavenly Father, then reject truth and embrace falsehood.  We will always be his children and he will never stop loving us, but that does not mean that he likes everything that we do.

We will never know his wrath—his condemning anger that will one day be poured out on an unrepentant world—but we should heed his warnings nonetheless.

God speaking through the prophet to his chosen people said speak the truth.  These words were for his chosen people, people who traced their bloodline back to Abraham.

We should heed this counsel not because of our human blood but because of the divine bloods shed for us.  God wants good for us and his words are for our own good.

So, when God says speak the truth we must understand that it is for our own good. 

But how can I speak the truth in a world where the truth is seldom to be found?  Television, Facebook, Twitter, and other media seem so imbued with bias that even if you get the facts the truth is often obscured in the telling.

How can I speak the truth?  I will give you the only counsel that I remember about public speaking.  Put on the best clothes that you have and talk about what you know.

I’m sure that the former is lesser than the latter.  That is, the clothing is less important than talking about what you know.

But how do I know what is true so I can speak the truth.  Are the Russians meddling in our elections?  Of course they are and so are the Chinese.  The Chinese are better at it and more patient but we are not called to be media referee when we speak the truth.  We must speak what we know to be true.

What?  That I made my kids peanut butter sandwiches for lunch today?

What?  That I still need to do laundry.

What?  That I don’t care what a she-shed is?

Is that the truth that I am to speak?   That’s what I can say with certainty.  Is that to be the extent of my conversation?

How about this for things that you can say and they are the truth.

God is good.

God is love.

God loves us.

We are to love one another.

I could continue but I won’t.  You can continue that list.  We have wristbands that can help you with that truth.  God loves you.  Love one another.  We can say these things and know them to be the truth.

Seek justice.  Love mercy.  Walk humbly with your God.  Can we not advise each other in this truth from the Lord. 

Zechariah would say render judgments that are true and sound.  Don’t plot evil.  Don’t love falsehood.

OK, I get the don’t plot evil and don’t love falsehood but I haven’t been called for jury duty in 30 years and I got out of that one so I don’t know about rendering judgments. 

There may come a time when you are called and do serve as part of a court, but most here hold court many times a week.  If you have children, you hold court.  Render judgments that are sound and true.

There is much that we can say that is the truth and never turn on the television and log on to the internet.  I know it’s hard to resist jumping into those online melees.  I usually don’t.  There is no real discussion there.  You like something or you don’t but the posted exchanges resemble artillery barrages more than sound discussions.

Sometimes I jump in anyway.  How could I not.  If people would read my post, that would settle everything.  How can you still think that way?  You read my post.

The prophet advised his people that one day their feasts would truly be those of joy and gladness.  The more his people obeyed the instructions God had given them, the more they would know happiness in this life.

We have the same promises in this age.  Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.  Seek his kingdom and his righteousness and he will provide all of those things that the pagans have made into their gods.

Come to God.  Bring your burdens.  Receive his rest.  Take his yoke and learn from him.

The truth is and we must speak it daily is that God loves us very much.  We should be more concerned about taking that truth to this lost world than any political, social, or religious discourse that will not endure the age.

Speak the truth.  Begin with God loves you.  Help people get to Jesus is Lord!  Help them study the word and live as his disciples, who just happen to be known by our love.

Let’s consider the full clause as we find it in the prophecy.  Speak the truth to each other.  We should always speak the truth but it will often fall on deaf ears in the world that rejects God, but it will be encouragement to those of us who seek him.

Speaking the truth may be countered by the world’s falsehoods, but among believers it is received with joy and gladness by God’s people.

It is important that we speak the truth and beneficial that we speak the truth to each other.  God hates falsehood.  We must be people of the truth.  Speak the truth to each other.

A few facts and much speculation make gossip and rumors addictive.  

Being the first to know seems to give us power.  Thinking that we have some information that somebody else doesn’t seems like it gives us a leg up on our competition.  But these things are not about truth.

Speak the truth to each other.  We know so much that is true.

God is good.

God is love.

God loves us.

We are to love one another.

The directions that God gave us are for our own good.  How do we keep these things in the forefront of our minds?

Here’s a thought that God gave to his people a long time ago.

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

God not only gave us directives for our own good but direction on how to internalize these directives.

Let’s be people of the truth.  Let us speak the truth because of who we are.  Let us make an extra effort to speak the truth to one another.

Regardless of what the world says, speak the truth.

Amen.

Parable of the Weeds

Read Matthew 13:24-30 & 13:36-43

My yard normally starts turning green before most others in town.  I don’t spray and seldom put anything on it.  So, in late February or maybe March, my yard is turning green.  It’s mostly weeds mind you, but it’s green.

I have walked this church parking lot with my jug of Round Up probably 50 times in the last 10 years.  Why?  Because in the hottest of days on pavement that you would not walk on barefooted, weeds find a small crack, grow, and sometimes thrive if not brought to justice by fast moving fishing line or chemically induced death.

Were I preaching in Colorado or Oregon, I might have a typo on the Facebook post a week before the sermon.  It would just be a missing letter.  The notice would read:  “Join us this Sunday to see what Jesus said about weed.”  That might put a few extra in the pews.

Of course the following week, I might have Colorado farmers protesting in the parking lot when the literalists planted marijuana seeds in their wheat fields.

The parable of the weeds is interesting.  It came at about the same time that Jesus delivered the parable of the sower.  Both of these parables he explained to his disciples after he gave them to the crowd.  Think about the dynamic at work here.

Jesus spoke to the crowd.  The crowd then had time to discuss the parable and Jesus had time to explain it to his disciples.  That means that the disciples were likely in the boat with him, at least as he was speaking to the crowd.

For Hebrew families that often spent much time in the Synagogue, discussing what the rabbi said, was probably a common thing.  Today we demand a constant influx of information.  We want audio, visual, and in some cases the ability to interact.

Two thousand years ago, the interaction was probably taking place, but in small groups.  Some of those groups may have been families.  We don’t know exactly how the teaching and parables that Jesus delivered were received and discussed, but think about the power of that dynamic.

You hear the morning’s message or perhaps messages and then you discuss them the rest of the day.  A certain hymn strikes a chord in your spirit and you have to share it with the people with whom you spend the rest of the day.

Most modern workshops have some lecture and demonstration and then small group activities.  Some people just love a good lecture but most learn better with small group discussion or activities.

Jesus teaches the crowd and then he spends some more time just talking with those closest to him in the boat or later in the house which he had left earlier that day.  Was the crowd just sitting there dumbfounded waiting for the next teaching?  I doubt it.

Parables seem to naturally evoke follow on discussion.

I think the parable struck a chord and evoked many, many discussions while the crowd was gathered or while they were on their various ways home.

So, what do we have in this parable?

·     The Sower or the Farmer is the Son of Man.  Yes, Jesus is talking about himself.  He sowed good seed.

·     The field is the world.

·     The seeds here are those who have received the Kingdom of God.

·     The weeds are the sons of the evil one.

·     The evil one is the devil.

·     The harvest comes at the end of the age.

·     Angels are the harvesters.

·     The weeds do get plucked out and thrown in the fire.  That won’t be a good day to be a weed in any parable.

·     That leaves the wheat for harvest and what a fantastic and wonderful harvest it will be.  The righteous will shine like the sun.

There is the parable in basic Kiplinger or PowerPoint format.  Again, we have a parable told by Jesus followed by his own explanation.  Do we need further explanation?

Have you ever wondered why?  If not, check to see if you have a pulse.  We ask that simple question all the time. 

Why?

Why was that the answer to my prayer?

Why didn’t I get an answer to my prayer?

Why did she have to die?

Why did he get cancer?

Why does March Madness continue into April?

Why do bad things happened to good people?

Why doesn’t God pluck the weeds up sooner, like now?

The answer to that question and the other why questions lies in the answer to two other questions.

First, do you believe there is a God?  By God, I mean an all-powerful being that brought everything into existence.  I am talking about a sovereign being over and above all things through which there is nothing in this world or in this universe that he did not bring into existence.  Do you believe in God?

Considering the target audience here, I would expect an overwhelming number of yes answers to that question.

Second, do you believe that God is a God of love.  

Specifically, do you believe that he loves you and will never stop loving you?

I would expect most Christians to answer in the affirmative; however, I know that many still wrestle with God’s love and their circumstances being dynamic.  But the truth is that God’s love is steadfast.  He never stops loving us!

So the answer to why didn’t God answer that prayer or why was this the answer or why must the weeds be allowed to grow with the crop until harvest is that God loves us and will never stop loving us.

Some folks will not like that answer.  It doesn’t square with my question.  Well, I’m not going to lose any sleep over the fact that some don’t like that answer.  Jesus answered a whole bunch of questions with something that did not fit into expectations. 

Sometimes we think that we can frame our questions so that God can only answer us in one or two ways.  Good luck with that.  Sure, that’s going to work.

God is love.  God loves us.  He will never stop loving us. That’s the answer.

But it doesn’t make sense.  Think about it.  When God told the people whom he had delivered from bondage in Egypt to go into the land he was giving them, he told them not to make any treaties with the people in the land.

If they don’t die in battle or run away, don’t make treaties with them.  Why?  Your sons will marry the good-looking gals, have kids, and before you know it they will all be worshipping some false god.

God’s instructions seemed brutal, but simple.  Don’t have anything to do with them.  Smash their altars and other religions symbols.  These people will lead you away from the one true god and you will prostitute yourselves with images of wood and stone.

God was directing some segregation.  He didn’t want any weeds in his wheat then.

Paul counseled that bad company corrupts good character.  Don’t hang out with people of bad moral character.  Share the gospel with them but don’t become who they are.  Your mission is to lead them to Christ not let them lead you away from him.

Paul is stern in his admonishment.

But Jesus says that God will let the wheat and the weeds grow up together.  He does note that some of the wheat might be lost when you pulled up the weeds.  He does offer some facts in mitigation here.  God’s desire is that none perish.

He didn’t say that he would not pluck up the weeds, he just said, “Not now.”  Everything can grow until harvest.

The weeds grow in judgment.  We grow in grace.

There are casualties in every war.  This is good and bad, good and evil, disciples of Jesus and disciples of evil.  But, if we were careful—if God was careful—we could minimize those casualties.  Right?

Jesus won the victory at Calvary.  I have decided to follow Jesus.  Do I really have to follow him through all of these weeds?

The wrestling match going on inside of me between my old self (who wants to be in charge again) and my new self is enough challenge without having to live in the midst of evil.  Why do we have to wait?

God will never stop loving you.  But we want God to pluck up all the weeds that the evil one planted. 

He will.  When it is time for the harvest.  God loves you.

From the time sin entered the world until the time when God will send his angels to pluck up anything and anyone that causes sin or does evil, there will be sin and evil and people doing evil in the world.

We must believe that God is sovereign.  He is just.  His timing is perfect.  He is a holy God.  He detests sin and rebellion and everything that turns people from him.

But more than all of these things that we seem to readily comprehend, God is love.  His love for us is everlasting.  So as we grow and the weeds grow on the same earth together, know that God loves you and will never stop loving you.

There is evil in the world.  The Evil One is still at work. People do evil things.  Sin seems to continue unchecked in vast parts of the world, some of them too close to home for our liking; and God will never stop loving you.

While the comparison seems to fit awkwardly with this parable, we do have a commission to take the gospel to the entire world.  This parable doesn’t say that we can turn a weed into wheat, but the point of this parable is not all inclusive and does not discount what we have been commissioned to do and what we have learned from the entire biblical witness that we have.

It is a parable of the end of the age and between now and then, evil will be in the world.  Every generation from now until the end of the age will have to contend with evil in the world.  There is no worldly formula that gets rid of evil.

Listen to Jesus explain this parable once more.

The One who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world; and the good seed—these are the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.  Therefore, just as the weeds are gathered 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 gather from His kingdom everything that causes sin and those guilty of lawlessness. 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 their Father’s kingdom. Anyone who has ears should listen!

If your heart and your mind is inclined to receive the word of God—the truth—then receive this parable as Jesus gave it to us.  Have ears to hear.

God will remove sin and evil from our dwelling place in his time.  So, we must trust that he is sovereign and holy and just and that he knows precisely what he is doing.  More than that, we must know that God loves us.  In the middle of this weed infested world, God loves us.

God will never stop loving us.  We are called to love one another.  We scatter seed everywhere that we go.  We grow in God’s grace fully trusting that he will never leave or forsake us even when we can’t tell if there are weeds in the wheat field or just a little wheat in a field full of weeds.

Maybe, if we are faithful to our commission, there won’t be quite as many weeds for the harvesters to pluck at the end of the age; but our walk, our race, our earthly journey will have some weeds.

We who have answered the call to follow Jesus will accept that fact, we will know with certainty that God loves us and will never stop loving us, and we will focus on our mission and commission and being God’s love in this world and not the weeds and obstacles planted in our path.

If you have ears, then hear and understand.  This is the way that Jesus said it will be.  This is the world into which we have been sent with God’s love.

Whether we like it or not is irrelevant.  God loves us.  He has sent us into this world full of weeds with love and good news.

We live lives of love and proclaim the gospel as long as we live or until the harvest, whichever comes first.

Amen.