I pondered these verses as I read this morning. I know that I am supposed to be producing wheat, or maybe I am wheat. Whatever, I am supposed to be a grain that feeds others. Wheat isn’t in a field just to look good and then die. Rather, it is harvested, ground up and used to make bread, cereal and other good things to nourish people. If I am not being useful to nourish others, then I cannot call myself wheat, can I?

Growing next to the wheat, and sowed by “the enemy” are the tares. What are tares? According to the New Oxford American dictionary, tares are a weed that resembles wheat. And I thought an important part of this scripture was that they are right next to the wheat, hard to discern which is which out in the fields. But when it is time for harvest, the reapers gather the tares first and prepare them for destruction. I don’t want to be a weed that is good for nothing except to be burned.

Instead, I want to be the wheat that can be used to feed others. My testimony is important. The way I grow and keep my life is important. It’s not just the reapers who are watching me; those who hunger for the Lord are watching, too, and if I am doing what I am supposed to, I will be able to feed them exactly what they need so that they can be part of God’s kingdom, too.

Isn’t it interesting that the tares are right beside the wheat, much like many who claim to know the Lord are in the world with us? By their fruits, we can know them. The Lord sends the reapers out and we need to make sure that we are the wheat and not the weeds.