THE VOICE WITHIN

It is not our privilege to judge other people, for that is God’s privilege alone. To illustrate this, Christ once told the parable of The Wheat and the Weeds:

“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,’ the owner replied.

The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

‘No,’ the owner answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up 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.’”

Ending the parable thus, Christ left his disciples and went into the house. But they up to him and asked him to explain its significance.

Christ answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the Evil One, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the Age, and the harvesters are the Angels.”

“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the Age. The Son of Man will send out his Angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furce, where there will be weeping and gshing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

So just wheat and weeds grow together in a field, there are both good people and evil people in the world. Some do God’s work while others work at the bidding of Satan.

And just as it is difficult to distinguish the weed from the wheat, we cannot determine beyond all doubt who is truly good and who is truly evil. We are in no position to judge accurately, as our understanding of the ways of the world is limited. Our fears and prejudices prevent us from making correct judgments about other people. An evil person may appear to be good, and a good person may appear to be just the opposite.

We must leave it to God to judge whether a person has done right or wrong, whether he has been truly good or utterly evil. This is because only God can see into a man’s heart and know all about his circumstances.

—The harbinger