Watch for Weeds

24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” (Matthew 13)
As if bad soil is not enough of an issue, weeds make matters even worse. It's part of the curse of the fall in the world of farming.  Any of us who have tried our hands at gardening can tell you how frustrating it is to have good crops overrun by weeds. But it's real.  After a certain point all you can do is watch and wait, then at harvest time separate.  Two groups deserve our focus here. We are obviously made aware of the enemy who came and sows the weeds. Satan has always sought to nose his way into families, churches, and fellowships of believers to wreak havoc.  But I realized how I have often skipped over the first group: the sower's men who were sleeping, allowing the enemy to come and sow the weeds.  Do we bear some responsibility for the weeds in the garden? It it while we have spiritually slept that the integrity of the "field" has been left mixed with weeds.  If we would have been more attentive, could we have caught the weeds before they took over?  Is there a way in which, like getting to a garden early to keep the weeds out, we could not be more diligent in doing so in the field of spiritual harvest?