Who Can You Trust?

Yesterday, I got to see the movie, Mockingjay, at my favorite downtown theater.  This is the third movie of The Hunger Games trilogy, and it was only part 1.  As with any movie that does not finish the storyline, we are left hanging for what will happen in the end.

This is a story of a futuristic society amidst a a growing revolution of people against a ruthless Capitol.  Katness Everdeen (whom I wrote about in Sacrifices for Love and Remember Who the Real Enemy Is) is struggling to grasp the idea that she is the central figure in that revolution, as people who watched her in both the Hunger Games saw her as the ultimate rebel.  As she navigates the rebellion force, she wonders who she can trust, and what the hidden agenda of each of the leaders she encounters really is.

As I watched this movie, I began to think about a passage of scripture I studied just last week, the parable of the Wheat and Tares (or weeds).  This can be found in Matthew 13:24-30.  The parable is about a farmer who plants good seed in his field, but in the evening after the seed is planted, the enemy came and planted weeds into the field.  As the wheat grew, the weeds also grew.  When the workers noticed the weeds among the wheat, they panicked and wondered to the farmer if they should pull the weeds.  The farmer cautioned the workers to leave them there, lest they uproot the good wheat.  At the harvest, they would separate the good wheat from the weeds and burn the weeds.  

I understand that the good wheat represents the believers in Christ, and the weeds represent people satan uses to cause sin and do evil things.  What I struggled with is the idea that we don't always know who these people are in our midst.  How would we know who to trust?  Why does God want these people to remain in our midst until the end?  What harm would removing these people do for believers?  

I have been made to understand that the "tares" are very similar looking plants to wheat as they are young plants.  We cannot always know the difference in immature plants, just as maybe we cannot always know the tares from immature believers.  Uprooting the "tares" from a group could confuse the young believer and cause them to stumble, become uprooted, and perhaps fall away.  To prevent this unnecessary loss, God allows them to remain in our midst.  

We must remain on our guard, full in the knowledge of the Truth as we can find it in the Bible.  Only by remaining firmly grounded, can we keep ourselves and others safe from the choking influence of these "tares" among us.  

When these people eat with you in your fellowship meals commemorating the Lord's love, 

they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you.  

They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves.  

They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain.  

They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, 

for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots.  

~Jude 12 (NLT)

Know who to trust.  

Know who you can't.