July 14: Matthew 13:24-30

Key Verse: Matthew 13:25
But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.

Devotion:
We have to be ever vigilant and ever ready doing God’s work. Whenever we slack off and get involved with other things instead of being vigilant with our work for God, the evil one is going to come in and throw a few weeds amongst our seeds we are planting. This may not seem like a problem at the time because we know we can pick up the next day and make sure our seeds will survive and thrive… but when it comes time for the harvest, the work is going to be twice as hard. So what sort of things are these weeds going to look like? I know I am terrible at identifying weeds from flowers!
One thing the evil one is going to use is doubt. The seeds of doubt are going to be sown in amongst the seeds of the gospel. This is not just going to make the work harder during harvest, but is also going to stunt the growth of the normal crop. The more doubt is scattered around the people in the community, the harder it is to promote the gospel because the doubters will have a louder voice. Selecting a few key people and preparing them for the work is going to make our work for God easier because the work can be shared.

Another thing the evil one will use is the success of the people who don’t hear the gospel or who don’t follow the gospel. The more he can make it look like success comes from any other place than God, the more people will look to other places and other people for personal gain instead of looking to God for eternal gain. Short term success is nothing in comparison to eternal salvation, but with everyone looking at the here and now, they loose focus on the future and only aim for personal gain.

One more thing the evil one will do is to bring down a community through whatever means he can. With a whole community feeling down because of something which has happened within the community, the harder it is to see the future and to see the hope Christ brought with Him. Switch on the gospel lights and keep them on!

Points to Ponder:
How often do you promote God’s Word?

How often do you follow up what you promote?