Acknowledging the existence of evil is not the same thing as focusing on evil. Saying there is no evil  is like  ‘burying ones head in the sand’. All you need to do to see evil is to look around you.

A dictionary definition of evil is “profound immorality and wickedness.”

This is not referring to that neighbour of yours who you don’t like or can’t stand because you disagree on a flavour of  ice cream. Evil has an intentionality of wickedness and immorality. It is perverse.

Saying all this,  if all you see and focus on is evil and nothing else, you stand the risk of being consumed by it.

Jesus gave a parable in Matthew 13: 24 – 30,  illustrating what we are looking at in today’s blog.

Verse 24 compares the kingdom of heaven to a farmer who planted good seeds in his field.

In one of my previous blogs,  I mentioned the word of God being the seed. As Christians, when you read the Bible, you are planting good seeds in your heart. When you live your life according to what the bible says, you are also planting good seeds around you.
One of the things that happen to everyone who believe in Jesus and His finished work is that they receive the gift of righteousness,  they become right with God and as they feed on God’s word, their minds get renewed and transformed.

As your mind gets renewed,  it affects your actions and decisions,  which in turn influences you and your surroundings. This is a good thing, and this is how it should be, but it isn’t always so, so the question is why?

To answer that, we need to look at verse  25 of the book of Matthew

‘But when everyone was asleep, an enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat and ran away.’

Now, there are two main schools of thought with regard to this verse.  One school of thought says that the ‘sleeping’ of men could have been avoided, and that is how the enemy gained asses into something good. In other words, evil only has asses when good people are silent and asleep. From the perspective of this school of thought,  the bearers of good need to be more awake and alive to prevent evil from gaining the upper hand.

The second school of thought is that there will be a natural sleeping time for people because we are designed that way. So evil just waited for an opportune time to strike. In other words, some level of evil can not be prevented as long as we are on planet Earth.

Now, whether you are with the first or second school of thought,  or you probably have something different,  there are two things that can not be argued in this scenario.  There was an enemy, and the intention of the enemy is very clear : to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

Remember earlier we saw the definition of evil? It is very deliberate,  very intentional.

‘ An enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat…’

The enemy did not go far away from the original thing. He came as close to the original as he could and planted something that looked so original that it had to be discerned as a fake. Is it not what we see in our society today? People are confused as to what is good and what evil is?

When the issue of morality is mentioned, some people struggle to see the line because it has been so blurred. Listen, the weed may look like wheat, but they are never the same thing.

When the enemy planted the fake, he did not stay there for people to easily identify him. He walked away. So many people do not see the devil as the cause of evil, so it is hard to deal with it as it should be dealt with.

If you acknowledge that evil comes from Satan, your perspective of that evil automatically changes, and rather than focusing on the evil itself, you are empowered to look at the source/ root.
Notice that over time, when the seeds started producing and the workers noticed the difference,  the first thing they wanted to do was uproot the weed?

This may seem like a solution, but it is merely trying to cover a sore without first giving it the proper treatment.
The farmer pointed out that the enemy had done this ( verse 28) .

Stop looking at the result of the evil around you as a cause and start looking at the root of it.
What was the recommendation in the end? Stop trying to fight the result of the immorality and wickedness and start tackling the cause itself, and the best way to do that is for the good seed to grow as it should.

If evil is prevalent around you, you need to shine your light more and show evil what good looks like. Do not conform to the evil around you. Focus on letting out the good inside of you. That is how the world will see the difference. Start living your life as a Christian that you are. Let people see what the life of a Christian is like through you. It makes the separation much easier. 

Don’t be in a compromising situation where you confuse people of your stance. Live your life as a wheat, not a weed.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. ( Matthew 5:16 )


Every blessing
Kingdom