I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Matthew 13-14

I love these parables.  Love is not the right word.  These parables speak to me, often times as a challenge.  Today I will focus on the one which I usually skip over, the parable of the wheat and the weeds.  We want to uproot and remove the weeds, those who do evil and cause harm to others, from the world, but Jesus warns us that if we do so we will also destroy some of the wheat, those who do good.  As Jesus explains, we cannot remove the weeds without damaging the wheat.  Additionally, we do not have the ability to clearly distinguish between who is a weed and who is wheat.  So, to mix the parables a bit, let us sow the seeds of God’s love to all around us because fertile soil can be found in the most unlikely places (and sometimes a plant growing in fertile soil next to that packed down can loosen it enough for crops to grow there as well).

When Jesus fed the five thousand, He gave us an example of how we should use the power which God has given us.  When Peter walked on the water to Jesus, we see the dangers in using that power.  We do not often take note of the importance of the fact that when the disciples came to Jesus asking Him to send the people away to get food, He told them to feed them.  It was only when they responded by saying they did not have enough food for everyone that He took steps to feed the people.  This suggests to me that the disciples could have called on God, just as Jesus did, to make the food they had stretch enough to feed everyone.  This is supported by Peter walking on the water, just as Jesus did.  The danger occurs when we start thinking, that we are doing it.  At that point, we stop focusing on God, stop looking to Jesus, and begin to realize that what we are doing is impossible.  At that point we have two choices.  We can turn once more to Jesus and cry out “Lord, save me.”  Or, we can drown in our sin.