July 28, 2018 – Christ Lives! In Him I Trust!

“When the crop began to mature and yield grain, the weeds made their appearance as well.” —Matthew 13:26

The Lord doesn’t weed His garden (Mt 13:29). Jesus explained to His disciples that the field is the world, the wheat are the children of the kingdom, and the weeds are the children of the evil one (see Mt 13:38). Therefore, if you’re a child of the kingdom of God, you must suffer being intertwined with a lot of weeds (see Mt 13:29). The Lord puts His people together with the children of the evil one so that we may love and serve them, in the hopes of leading them to conversion and faith, as if the weeds had turned into wheat. However, the very opposite can occur. The wheat can become like weeds and lose their new life in Christ (2 Pt 1:10; 1 Cor 9:27).
Thus, wheat must be concerned about converting weeds and not being perverted by them. Conversion and perversion are related. If we do the work of conversion, we will be in less danger of being not be perverted. However, if we ignore our responsibility to lead people to conversion, we are in a greater danger of becoming perverted. If we don’t share our faith, we may lose our faith.
For God’s sake, for weeds’ sake, for your own sake, love a weed enough to tell him that Jesus loves him enough to die for him. Wheat your garden.

Prayer: Father, may I love weeds and show it.
Promise: “Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds; if each of you deals justly with his neighbor; if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place, or follow strange gods to your own harm, will I remain with you in this place.” —Jer 7:5-7
Praise: Wearing a crucifix has opened up more than one conversation about Christ for Steven.

From a homily on the 2nd letter to the Corinthians
by
Saint John Chrysostom, bishop
[ Died 407 A.D. ]

So he did not just say, “I love you,” but with greater emphasis: Our mouth is open, our heart is enlarged; we hold you all in it, and not only that, but with room for you to move freely. For those who are loved enter fearlessly into the heart of their lover. And therefore he says: You are not constrained because of us, but you are constrained in your own affections. See how this reproach is tempered with much forbearance, as is the way with those who love much. For he did not say: You do not love me, but you do not love me in the same measure; for he did not want to charge them more harshly.Our heart is enlarged. For as heat makes things expand, so it is the work of love to expand the heart, for its power is to heat and make fervent. It is this that opened Paul’s lips and enlarged his heart. For I do not love only in words; he means, but my loving heart too is in unison with my words; and so I speak with confidence, without restraint or reserve. There was nothing more capacious than the heart of Paul, for he loved all the faithful with as intimate a love as any lover could have for a loved one, his love not being divided and lessened but remaining whole and entire for each of them. And what marvel is it that his love for the faithful was such, since his heart embraced the unbelievers, too, throughout the whole world?
Indeed one may see with what a wonderful love for the faithful he is always inflamed, as one finds proof of it in all his writings. To the Romans he says: I desire to see you, and I have often planned to come to you, and if by any means at last I may succeed in reaching you. To the Galatians he says: My little children, with whom I am again in labour; to the Ephesians: For this reason I bend my knees on your behalf; and to the Thessalonians: What is my hope and my crown of glory? Is it not yourselves?For he used to say that he carried them about in his heart and in his chains.
Again he writes to the Colossians: I want you to know how greatly I strive for you and for all who have not seen my face; and to the Thessalonians: Like a nurse taking care of her children, being desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the Gospel but also our own selves. So too he says: You are not restricted by us. And so Paul does not merely say that he loves them but also that they love him, so that in this way he may draw them to him. Indeed, to the Corinthians he bears witness of this love when he says: Titus came, telling us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me.