Tare or Wheat

by Gene Poore

Birth provides every soul with a crisp ticket, highlighted with a road map
pointing at the afterlife in Heaven’s Realm. However, as we age, spiritual
ignorance and U-turns fade that ticket’s fine print and fog the roadway to our
destination. Opinions, unfounded or well intended, scatter misdirection on the
spiritual roadway to eternity because we neglect scanning the road map ourselves.
Instead, we detour from the roadway and flounder in spiritual weed fields. Within
and without any material church, we listen as impostors, imitators, hypocrites,
and contaminators crumple Heaven’s directional ticket.
Scripture classifies contamination as Tares among the Wheat. However, Jesus
said, “Let both grow together until the harvest. . . .” Jesus cautioned that He
would conduct the harvest Himself, not the “Servants of the householder . . . Lest
while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the Wheat with them.” (MAT 13:27-
30).
God judges us as Tares or Wheat by the spiritual condition of our heart.
Because only God knows every heart, we are not to compare, not to judge. Jesus
warned. “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” (MAT 7:1). Yet, we Christians too
often judge one another before looking within.
When we judge, we become a Tare. When we judge, we try to harvest. When we
judge, we breed the impostor within us. Each hypocritical moment trips us during
our Christian walk. Yet, when we seek guidance from God through prayer and reading
God’s Word, we separate the inner Tare from the Wheat. We then understand and no
longer judge.
Like in Jesus’ day, when Jesus called Himself the Bread of Heaven, Jesus’
“Disciples murmured at it.” The disciples considered Jesus’ words “An hard
saying.” Afterward, scripture states that not every follower questioned Jesus for
a deeper understanding of His words. Instead, “From that time many of [Jesus’]
disciples went back, and walked no more with [the Lord].” (JOH 6:60-66). Those
disciples no longer walked with God’s Living Word, named Jesus.
If the ex-disciples no longer walked with God’s Living Word, did the ex-
disciples stay wheat? Did the backsliders revert to tares? Only God will judge;
however, rational religious thinking says Tare. Thus, as modern Christians, we
must ask ourselves a similar question. After accepting Christ, if we do not read
scripture for a deeper understanding of God’s Word, are we as much Tares as the
disciples who walked no more with God’s living Word?
Spiritual Wheat cannot thrive without nutrients supplied through a deeper
spiritual understanding of God’s Word. God’s Word fertilizes spiritual Wheat,
shrivels the Tare. Unlike the ex-disciples who walked no more with Jesus, if we
study scripture, we protect our afterlife ticket to Heaven’s Realm when Jesus
reaps the Wheat.