The parable of the weeds

When it comes to death we only have two choices:  heaven or hell.  We can be good and get to Heaven, or we can be bad and go to hell.  As a respiratory therapist I find that those patients who believe in Heaven are much more likely to be enjoyable patients as they take the final walk to the pearly gates.

Jesus talks about the parable of the weeds (Matthew 12: 24-43) in which a farmer plants only good seeds in good soil.  The enemy of the farmer plants weeds among the seeds one night.  The crops come up eventually and so do the weeds.  The son of the farmer said, "should I pull the weeds?"

The farmer said," No.  If you pull the weeds the good plants will come up too.  So I'd like you to allow the weeds to grow with the crops and when it's time to pick the crops pull the weeds first and wire them up so we can burn them.  Then we'll pick the crops and put them in my barn."

This is me paraphrasing the parable.  To get the full story you can check out the Bible.  Yet Jesus later explained the parable.  The enemy was Satan and the weeds were evil people who will be burned in hell.  The crops were the good people who walk among evil people are are often tempted by them.  The good crops will spend eternity in God's barn.

I can use myself as a good example here.  I used to never swear and prided myself on this fact.  Then one day I was among friends who swore a lot and I found myself swearing.  I felt guilty doing so, yet I continued to do it.  Within the next year I found myself swearing often.

Basically I was influenced by something and it blossomed in the wrong way.  One small incidence caused me to do something I didn't want to do and I went with it.  So I had to slowly wean myself away from this bad habit.

Now swearing is yet a small thing, yet it does tell a lot about a person by what comes out of his mouth.  All it takes is one little thing to set a person on the wrong path, and we must all be careful.  One little event, one small lie, leads to bigger lies, bigger acts of evil, and greater sins.  This is the path to hell.

Yet even as we see ourselves blooming in the wrong way, and we are aware of it, we can remedy the situation.  It may take years, it may take counseling, yet any life is capable of changing to the righteous path.  A good example is the alcoholic who turns his life around to do good, or the drug addict who makes an example of himself and sets his life straight.

The path to Heaven is not easy, yet it makes you a much better person, and much more enjoyable person to be around to the day you finally do die.

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