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Read Matthew 13:36-43
“The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one” (v. 38).
A number of years ago I worked for a screen printing company in Kansas City, Missouri, and one of our clients was a large seed company with its home office in Iowa. Usually, each year we would receive an order to print corrugated plastic field signs that would be placed along the highway in the fields where our customer’s “certified” seed was being grown.
As we think about the motive of the seed company, we would note their desire to advertise and express their pride in the quality crop being produced from their seed. In this parable, Jesus noted that there is both good seed and bad seed. The good seed is representative of the children of the kingdom, but the poor seed is the result of Satan’s activity in the lives of lost humanity.
If there were to be a sign posted in your life as to the quality or purity of the seed in your life, would you be a representative of good seed or bad seed? We cannot expect to sow the seed of unrighteousness in our lives and then bring forth a harvest of holiness. As we live in this world today, what signs are being read by those who pass our way? Are we producing a life of purity or that of wicked worldliness? (Marshall Mosley)
There are only two kinds of spiritual seeds — God’s and Satan’s. Which
do you use?
This is the February 11, 2014 devotional from Opening the Word.
Photo Credit: "Billboard by Editor B used under CC BY 2.0 / Cropped.

Read 2 Kings 17:14-23
“Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only” (v. 18).

Having grown up in the 50’s and 60’s under the training of parents who believed in teaching us that children were responsible for behavior, sometimes the rod (maybe a yardstick or green switch) was employed. Sometimes we got the “brown chair treatment.” The brown chair was a place where we could sit and reflect upon our misdemeanors and consider how we might adjust our attitudes to be more conformable to the expectations of parents.
Admittedly, as a parent I sometimes counted to ten. Counting is condemned by those who may have it all together, but I was not one of those. Sometimes counting to ten gave me time to think of the next step. Sometimes a time-out chair was safer for the child than corporal discipline, and again, it gave me time to formulate a plan.
God gave Israel a “time-out” not because He was fearful that He would overreact nor because He did not have a next step in mind. He set Israel aside so they could reflect. He set them aside so they could reject those things which had displaced God. (Lonnie Witt)
God sometimes sets us aside so we can deal with carnal pride.
God sometimes sets us aside so that we can better accept Him as a guide. — Lonnie Witt

It is better to take a time-out voluntarily than it is for God to impose one on us.

This is the February 3, 2014 devotional from Opening the Word.
Photo Credit: "chair" by qmnonic used under CC BY 2.0 / Cropped and resampled.

Read Acts 17:22-31
“Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (v. 31).
As we listen to and watch the daily news reports, we cannot help being very well-acquainted with judgment days. Many of the trials that take place in our justice system drag on for weeks or months before a verdict is reached. When a guilty verdict is given, then a sentencing date is set. At that time, the person found guilty is again brought into the court for his “judgment day.”
As surely as the convicted criminal faces his “judgment day,” so each of us will face a Judgment Day. The criminal has his conviction decided by twelve of his peers who listen to the evidence presented, then, in the best of their judgment, make a decision as to the innocence or guilt of the accused, and a human judge makes and announces his sentence.
Regardless of our status as forgiven or unforgiven, we will all be present for our Judgment Day. It will not be presided over by a human judge who may be influenced by many factors including some that are not true, but by “that man whom he hath ordained,” who knows all the facts about and intents of the one to be judged. (LRD)
Our judgment at our appointed Judgment Day will be just, because it is pronounced by a judge who is impartial and fair.
This is the Friday, January 31, 2014, devotional from Opening the Word.
Photo Credit: "My Trusty Gavel" by Brian Turner used under CC BY / Cropped.