Faith Daily | 23 July 2022

PRAYER of the DAY - APBA p563

O God,

you alone can order our unruly wills and affections:

teach us to love what you command,

and to desire what you promise,

that, among the changes and chances of this world,

our hearts may surely there be fixed

where true joys are to be found;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

GOSPEL for the Day: Matthew 13: 24-30

24He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ 28He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

GOSPEL REFLECTION: Penny Graham

The parable of the weeds offers several important revelations about our life, our purpose, the angelic realm and the vast spiritual warfare that exists for each and every human soul. These verses reveal how people, like wheat growing in a field, can be consumed by weeds(or evil) if we are not aware and on guard as individuals or civilizations.

We are taught not to judge one another since it is God who will ultimately be judging us all at the end of our lives. This is especially true since it is Christ who made the ultimate sacrifice on the cross to pay our wages to God for the sins of mankind.

We are also taught that God allows free will for the human race as an opportunity to allow us to choose our own paths, whether good or bad. So in God’s time, the wicked and the righteous, the good and the bad(like weeds and the wheat) will intrinsically live and grow around each other, to eventually reveal each person’s true merit and identity in time.

God loves every human being and is hoping that we all live and grow to walk a righteous path as if we were wheat growing in a field void of (sinful) weeds.

Do not judge one another as only God knows who will eventually seek his glory. Life is a recruiting drive as God patiently waits for his harvest of wheat(the righteous).

FINAL PRAYER APBA p563

Saving God,

in Jesus Christ you opened for us

a new and living way into your presence:

give us pure hearts and constant wills

to worship you in spirit and in truth;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen.