How well do you respond to the grace of God in your life? - Daily Reflections July 30,2013

WEEDS AMONG THE WHEAT

 

It is not easy to weed a vegetable garden — that is, to pull out only the weeds and leave the vegetables to grow. Sometimes, it is necessary to sacrifice a few of the plants in order to get rid of all the weeds and make it easy for the remaining plants to grow without competition from the weeds. Sometimes, a whole crop might be sacrificed because there are simply too many weeds. But certainly, this is never the case with God.

       God never sacrifices anyone in order to make life easier for others. He may allow a person’s sinful situation to continue and, thus, make life more difficult for many in order to give the former the opportunity to repent,  however slim that chance may be. This is the nature of His mercy and love — He does not want even one person to be lost; hence, today’s parable. Jesus tells us that God will sort the weeds from the wheat at Judgment Day.

       The thing to remember here is that there is another parable that tells us that it is better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied to our necks, rather than lead a little one into sin. When these two parables are combined,  it becomes quite obvious that if we abuse God’s mercy and do not deal with our sin at the appropriate time, we will be more harshly dealt with on Judgment Day. God’s mercy is not a reason for us to be flippant with sin and its consequences; they are always very serious matters.

       God’s mercy and forgiveness should encourage us to reform our lives to the point that we no longer need to rely so much on His forgiveness because we have made progress in ridding our lives of sin. This is the goal of discipleship; this is the call to holiness that is placed upon each of us. Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: How well do you respond to the grace of God in your life? Are you growing in holiness, or is sin getting the better of you?

 

Holy Spirit, help me to grow more and more as a disciple of Jesus. May my life become more and more like Jesus’ life so that I will become a better witness of His love for all.