Just King

I hate weeds.  Weeds wreak havoc and ruin a beautiful yard if not eliminated.  I made an effort to eliminate some weeds in my yard a few weeks ago by purchasing what I THOUGHT was a chemical which would only kill weeds.  Turns out, after zig zagging around my yard spraying weeds, that I also killed every inch of grass along with the weeds.  Now my yard has several large zig zag patterns of dead weeds . . . and grass.  From this experience I learned that when grass and weeds grow right beside one another, you have to be careful how you go about eliminating weeds in case you destroy the grass as well.

Our world is full of “weeds” (evil people).  Read the news on any given day and we are confronted with the harsh reality of all the evil that exists in the world.  Murder, violence, bullying, stealing, lying, abortion, divorce, . . . these are all examples of evil that happens in our world and in our own lives every day.  With all these weeds of evil growing everywhere, we might struggle at times wondering, “where is God?”, “why does He allow such evil?”, or “is He powerless to do anything about it?”  Be assured, God hates weeds more than we do, and He has plans to get rid of them, just not in the way or in the time frame that you might expect.

READ:  Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

God the King is the MAKER and OWNER of this world and He will make sure that everyone receives JUSTICE!  According to Matthew 13:24 and 38 the world in which good and evil exist is “HIS”.  That one little possessive pronoun communicates that God is the maker and therefore the owner of the world that you and I enjoy and live in every day.  At the same time, there is a real enemy that exists in God’s world (the devil), but make no mistake, He is fully in charge of His world and His Kingdom.  How do we make sense of our experience in the world?

God allows GOOD and EVIL to exist TOGETHER beside one another in His world (Mt. 13:25-26, 30, 38) – We should not be surprised at evil in our world.  We should not be shocked when we hear about bad things that happen.  We should not become discouraged when we feel like we are surrounded on all sides by wickedness.  Our King is allowing good and evil would exist side by side in this world.  Matthew 5:45 says God, “makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.”  The sun and rain God provides which allows good wheat to grow is the same environment which allows evil weeds to grow as well.  The frustrating part is that evil weeds are right next to us and they impact our personal lives.  It is our personal experience with evil that creates within us a desire for justice!  We want someone to eliminate the evil and make things right.  There is good news for all of us who want justice in this world!

In God’s Kingdom, everyone will receive their just PUNISHMENT or REWARD (Mt. 13:30, 39b-43) – There are consequences for everything in life.  When we do what is good, good things happen to us.  When we do what is evil, bad things happen.  The consequence of being a child of the evil one is being gathered outside the Kingdom and thrown into a “fiery furnace.  In a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  The consequence of being a child of the Kingdom is being gathered inside the Kingdom and welcomed into the “barn” of God’s eternal presence.  We may see and experience many injustices in this life that seem to go without consequences, but we can be sure of this, no one who will escape God’s justice.

CONCLUSION
An important question to ask is, “am I wheat or am I a weed?”  Am I a son of the kingdom or a son of the evil one?  Make no mistake, God will eternally punish or reward us depending on which one we are.  Why doesn’t God just eliminate weeds?  2 Peter 3:9 says that God is, “patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”   God isn’t eliminating weeds just yet, because He is patiently waiting to transform them into wheat!  Being transformed from a weed into wheat involves repenting of the evil we have done and putting faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.  Is it you God is patiently waiting for to repent?