Let them grow

Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ “ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ ” (Matthew 13:24-30)

This parable speak so much about handling newborns in the Spirit. New believers make mistakes almost as much a worldly person would, with exception to denying Christ as Lord. As Paul once said to the brothers at Corinth:

“Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly–mere infants in Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:1)

Paul wasn’t denying that they are believers. He first called them brothers and sisters and concluded them to be infants in Christ. In between these two ways of identity, he said to be addressing them as those who are worldly. These Christians are alive in Christ. There’s no doubt about it because it is God who made us alive with Christ. But the various testimonies that Paul had received about them caused him to judge their walk, not their lives, as worldly.

Christ has an answer to such situation: Let them grow.

We’re often so hopeful of seeing people change overnight that we become impatient with their walk and start telling them that they’re not Christian because of their walk. That in itself is entirely wrong.

In the parable above, Christ said plainly “while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.” When you judge, it is mostly by sight. And our judgement is perverted.

Another thing that’s truly remarkable from the parable is that Christ will not have the planters harvest. The planters are to plant seeds. The harvesters are to harvest.

“Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true.” (John 4:37)

When I plant the gospel by grace through faith, I’d love to see myself reap on the spot. But that’s not my calling. At times, I plant where none has ever planted. At times, I harvest where others have sowed.

“So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.” (1 Corinthians 3:7-9)

“Already the reaper draws his wages and gathers a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together.” (John 4:36)