Be Not Among The Tares

June 18

“Another parable He put forth to them, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.'

“So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’”

“He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’”

“The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’

“But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will tell the reapers to first gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn,’” Matthew 13:24-30.

The Word of God has gone forth into all the world. His Apostles were tasked with sharing the truth of salvation through Christ in Mark 16:15. Jesus further stipulated to those He sent that, “…they who believe and are baptized shall be saved; those who believe not shall be damned,” Mark 16:16.

There is a lot of disagreement among those who profess faith in the propitiatory death of Jesus that centers around this very concept. Some assent to His warning totally. They believe without equivocation that anyone who does not accept Christ as Savior and Lord will not see Heaven.

Others believe just as emphatically that a loving God could never allow anyone to spend eternity in hell. One branch of Christianity believes that there is a transition period between earth and Heaven in a place where penance will be done to ready the unbeliever who died in trespasses and sins for eventual entry into glory.

There also looms the great question as to the fate of the countless souls who have never been privileged to hear the Gospel of Christ, let alone to accept or to reject it. Of those, perhaps the only thing we can say with assurance is that while man can judge only based upon outward appearance, God looks upon hearts (See I Samuel 16:7).

We can presume that if an individual recognizes that he is a sinner and implores the only god he knows to cleanse him from sin, his repentance would cause him to receive God’s grace; while if he were arrogant in his own conceit he would relegate himself eternally to the realm of the lost…but our presumption is only that.

What we may know without speculation or presumption is that Christ has made a way for us. Indeed, the Word says that He has “made a way where there is no way,” Isaiah 43:16.

The Prophet Isaiah wrote of the coming Messiah approximately 600 years before the birth of Christ. In the 53rd chapter of his book he gave great detail about the One who would come to save mankind from sin and death.

In fact the prophet penned some of the most beautiful and encouraging words in all of scripture that assure us:

“He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief; a man of suffering and pain…He was despised and rejected of men and we hid our faces from Him and held Him in low esteem.

“But, surely He took our grief and carried our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God and afflicted! But He was wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities! The punishment that brought us peace was placed upon Him, and by His wounds, we are healed,” Isaiah 53:3-5.

Let us fully embrace Christ’s solution to our sin problem. Let us receive the salvation He so freely gives without equivocation lest we deceive ourselves into believing there is some other way to the portal of glory! Let us share the good news of Jesus and His salvation with all who will hear the message from our lips and discern our faith in Him by our surrendered lifestyle.

Let us make sure we are not found among the tares when the trumpet sounds (I Thessalonians 4:16, I Corinthians 15:52) and His feet stand again on the Mount of Olives (see Zechariah 14:4, Acts 1:11). Let us keep our eyes on the eastern sky, knowing that as He said, "At an hour when you (the world of unbelievers) think not, He will come again," Matthew 24:44, Luke 12:40.