Key Thought

Today's Prayer

Father, help my light to shine so others will see your glory and grace. Help me invest myself in others to bring them to you and receive your grace and mercy. In my own life, I want to be wholly dedicated to you and live your righteousness! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

Then Jesus used another story to teach them. Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a man that planted good seed in his field. That night, all the people were asleep. The man's enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat. Then the enemy went away. Later, the wheat grew and heads of grain grew on the wheat plants. But at the same time the weeds also grew. Then the man's servants came to him and said, 'You planted good seed in your field. Where did the weeds come from?' "The man answered, 'An enemy planted weeds.' "The servants asked, 'Do you want us to go pull the weeds?' "The man answered, 'No, because when you pull up the weeds, you might also pull up the wheat. Let the weeds and the wheat grow together until the harvest time. At the harvest time I will tell the workers this: First gather the weeds and tie them together to be burned. Then gather the wheat and bring it to my barn.'" Then Jesus told the people another story: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. A person plants that seed in his field. That seed is one of the smallest of all seeds. But when the seed grows, it is one of the largest garden plants. It becomes a tree, big enough for the birds to come and make nests in its branches." Then Jesus told the people another story: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman mixes into a big bowl of flour to make bread. The yeast makes all the dough (bread) rise." Jesus used stories to tell all these things to the people. Jesus always used stories to teach the people. This is the same as what the prophet said: "I will speak using stories; I will tell things that have been secrets since the world was made." Then Jesus left the people and went into the house. His followers came to him and said, "Explain to us the meaning of the story about the weeds in the field." Jesus answered, "The person that planted the good seed in the field is the Son of Man. The field is the world. The good seed are all of God's children in the kingdom. The weeds arethose people that belong to the Evil One (the devil). And the enemy that planted the bad seed is the devil. The harvest time is the end of the world. And the workers that gather are God's angels. "The weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire. It will be the same at the end of the world. The Son of Man will send his angels, and his angels will find the people that cause sin and all people that do evil. The angels will take those people out of his kingdom. The angels will throw those people into the place of fire. In that place the people will be crying and grinding their teeth {with pain}. Then the good people will shine like the sun. They will be in the kingdom of their Father. You people that hear me, listen!

Related Scripture Readings

God will do what is right. He will give trouble to those people who trouble you. And God will give peace to you people who are troubled. And he will give peace to us. God will give us this help when the Lord Jesus is shown to us. Jesus will come from heaven with his powerful angels. He will come from heaven with burning fire to punish those people who don't know God. He will punish those people who refuse to accept the Good News about our Lord Jesus Christ. Those people will be punished with a destruction that continues forever. They will not be allowed to be with the Lord. Those people will be kept away from his great power. This will happen on the day when the Lord {Jesus} comes. Jesus will come to receive glory with his holy people. And all the people who have believed will be amazed at Jesus. You will be in that group of believers, because you believed the things we told you. That is why we always pray for you. We ask our God to help you live the good way that he called you to live. The goodness you have makes you want to do good. And the faith you have makes you work. We pray that with his power God will help you do these things more and more. We pray all this so that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ can have glory in you. And you can have glory in him. That glory comes from the grace (kindness) of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Do everything without complaining or arguing. Then you will be innocent and without anything wrong in you. You will be God's children without fault. But you are living with evil people all around you who have become very bad. Among those people you shine like lights in the dark world. You offer those people the teaching that gives life. So I can be happy when Christ comes again. I can be happy because my work was not wasted. I ran in the race and won.

In the past you were {full of} darkness (sin), but now you are {full of} light (goodness) in the Lord. So live like children who belong to the light.