Topic: Be Vigilant [Sunday September 27, 2015]
Text: Matthew 13:24-43
Key Verse: “Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way” (Matthew 13:24,25).
A Christian life demands constant vigilance, and believers must always crosscheck their lives to ensure nothing has crept in unaware. It is deceptive to assume that one is insulated from the defilement of the world, when one lives and works in the midst of unbelievers without discretion. In today’s text, Jesus employed many parables during His teaching.
He never explained the meaning to the multitudes who listened to Him, but only to His disciples. One of such parables was on tares sown by an enemy among good seeds. He said the owner of the vineyard had done his bit by sowing good seed and had left thereafter. But while he was asleep, the enemy invaded the farm with a strange weed. The seed was discovered by vigilant servants, who noticed the strange outgrowth among the wheat.
The response of the vineyard owner, that the tares should be left alone until harvest time when they would be destroyed, instruct believers about negative influences and how they should be handled with wisdom.
Believers are in a corrupt world; they hear and see terrible things that are capable of choking up their Christian conviction. If believers willfully refuse to make a difference between righteousness and unrighteousness, virtues and vices, good and bad, right and wrong, and begin to pattern their lives in line with the negative influence of these times, then they are not wise. Like the servants of the vineyard owner in the text, who were able to detect the tares because they were vigilant, believers must be vigilant so that they will not be swept off their feet unknowingly. A focused and visionary believer must detect and shun evil no matter how strong the influence may be.
Thought for the day: As you watch, apply discretion in tackling any impending danger
Bible Reading in one Year: 1 Peter 1-5
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
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