Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
“‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” (Matthew 13:24-30 NIV)
Arrogant, self-righteous ignorance.
The world doesn't want to be saved.
Saved from what?
Required Work
We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—
these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for,
“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:6-16 NIV)
Puducherry 🍒
All glory to God.
UPDATE, August 23, 2026...
Switched out the photo at the top of the post because it won't make sense to most people.
Midland is a very comfortable town. The local country club holds a golf tournament each summer and I took this photo in June. My brother was able to watch it on television from his home elsewhere.
The photos are about the Parable of the Sower, actually.
My house was built around 1946, and the original owner was apparently a keen gardener. The soil in the flower beds around the house is still rich and good for gardening.
I am not a gardener. My wife liked flowers and because I loved her I spent a lot of effort taking care of the landscape for her. Since she died, my motivation for doing that is almost non-existent. Each summer, I make sure to keep things under control but my mind and heart are elsewhere.
Back in 2016, I realized our perennial gardens were not producing "good fruit" with all of that good soil, so I planted some vegetables in open spaces.
I got quite a crop, and shared the bounty with my neighbors. God used that activity to stretch me and help me get to know people living around me.
I tried doing it again the following year, but either the seeds weren't good anymore or the soil was depleted. (I tried to use the seeds from before, but I think they were two seasons old.) I did not try again and the perennials took over, as they were supposed to.
So, ten years later, my gardens are not producing anything of value and the beds are full of weeds. The neighbors admire my landscape because it looks good from a distance--green with splotches of color, but up close it is a tangled mess.
I see this as a metaphor in my life. I desperately want to "produce good fruit; fruit that will last," but I cannot do it here. This is my hometown.
Midland and Michigan look good on the surface, but they are spiritually dead, in my view. Nothing grows here. The "weeds" have taken over. "Sowing" anything is fruitless. It is heartbreaking.
This is why I know I must go someplace else. It is deep in my heart and I long to be where ADONAI wants me to be.
And He will make it happen.
