Meditation: What can malicious weed-sowing tell us about the kingdom of God? The image Jesus uses here is a common everyday example of planting, harvesting, and sorting the good fruit from the bad. Weeds can spoil and even kill a good harvest if they are not separated and destroyed at the proper time. Uprooting them too early, though, can destroy the good plants in the process.

Guard God's implanted word in your heart
Just as nature teaches us patience, so God's patience also teaches us to guard the word which he has planted in our hearts and to beware of the destructive force of sin and deception which can destroy it. God's word brings life, but Satan, the father of lies, seeks to destroy the good seed which God plants in the hearts of those who listen to his word.

God's judgment is not hasty, but it does come. And in the end, God will reward each person according to what he or she has sown and reaped in this life. In that day God will separate the evil from the good. Do you allow God's word to take deep root in your heart?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, may your word take deep root in my heart and may I bear good fruit for your glory. May I hunger for your righteousness now that I may also look forward to the day of judgment with joy rather than with dismay.

This reflection is courtesy of Don Schwager, whose website is located at: http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/