The Outward Appearance

Jesus told a parable about tares growing up in a wheat field, and the workers of the field wanted to pull up the tares, but the master said, no, don’t do that, you might uproot some of the wheat, too. Just let them grow together until harvest, and then we can separate them, and burn the tares.
A tare is a weed. From what I understand, most of the time, it looks very much like a wheat plant, except that, at harvest time, because it’s a weed, it doesn’t bear any grain. Farmers generally don’t like weeds growing among their crops, but if it’s hard to tell the difference, well, then sometimes you just have to let things be. Besides, sometimes weeds get their roots entangled with the roots of other plants, so, if you pull up a tare, then you may uproot some wheat plants, too.
Some people say that the tares represent false churches. I don’t think it’s so much false churches, as just, false Christians. Don’t misunderstand me; I have no doubt that there are entire churches full of false Christians. My point, though, is that there have always been people, in and around the church, that managed to maintain the appearance of Christianity, without ever actually being converted.
Even Jesus Himself asked His disciples, “Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” They didn’t get it. I’m not sure that even Judas realized that Jesus was talking about him. When it came down to the Last Supper, Jesus told them that one of them would betray Him, and the other eleven each asked, “Is it I?” before Judas did. Even when Judas asked, and Jesus told him to go, the others thought that Jesus was sending Judas out to buy something. Think about that for a minute: Each of the other eleven thought it more likely that he himself would betray Christ than that Judas would. Judas certainly had them fooled, didn’t he? He didn’t fool Jesus, though.
Sometimes we get caught up in appearances, even though we have been warned not to look on the outward appearance. This person seems like such a good Christian, he/she has got to have a place reserved, right by Jesus’ side in heaven. Or, this person can’t seem to do anything right, there is no way that he’s going to make it. But God looks on the heart.
Don’t misunderstand me, you can’t make it to Heaven without bringing something of worth, just as a stalk of wheat with no grain on it is just another weed, but a lot of what looks like success to us, isn’t really, and what looks like failure, at least shows a willingness to try. When you get right down to it, someone who never fails doesn’t accomplish much of anything either, because all they do is what they know they can do. People that fail are often those that will step out in faith, and say, I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me, even though, sometimes, what they are doing isn’t what Christ wanted them to do. We all make mistakes. Some of us repent of our mistakes, and keep following the path that God has set before us.

The Real Transformer

Recently, a movie came out on DVD called, "Transformers." My kids watched the cartoon series when they were younger, and I have to admit, I kind of enjoyed it myself. I liked the movie, too. But, Romans 12:2 tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. I guess that's like being born again. There are a lot of people that try to say that you don't have to be born again. I think you have to be born again pretty much on a daily basis.

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus talked about the seed falling on different types of ground. There is hard ground, stony ground, thorny ground, and there is good ground. The main point here seems to be that, as we share the Gospel message, we need to be aware that different people are going to react to the message differently; some won't accept it at all. It's also important to realize that each of us are still receiving the message; we never stop learning. We get to choose, each day (sometimes each hour) if we are going to be good ground or not. We may decide some days that we are stony ground, and we are just not going to let anything sink in (or grow). Other days we may be thorny ground, so worried about paying the rent, and buying groceries, and making the car payment... Or maybe the boss has been riding our case, or somebody started an ugly rumor at work; and we forget that, in the long run, none of that matters.

In Second Corinthians 13:5, it says to examine yourself, to see whether you are in the faith. Just because you're in the church, it doesn't necessarily follow that you are in the faith. Some days, I'm afraid to examine myself, because I don't want to know where I stand with God. I just have to pray for forgiveness, and trust that He hasn't given up on me (even though I would have, if I were Him). I have to ask Him to help me become the man that He has always wanted me to be.
In the Parable of the Tares, Jesus taught us that tares (weeds), sometimes spring up in wheat fields. You don't want to weed out the tares, because the roots get entwined with the wheat. So, one simply waits until harvest time, and when the wheat is harvested, then the tares are burned. Again, the point is, one could be right in the middle of a good church, and not be right with God. The big difference between a wheat stalk and a tare, at least at harvest time, is that wheat bares grain, but tares don't provide anything of use (except when they are used as kindling). The good news is that God knows how to transform a tare into a wheat plant.