“Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the weeds are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. So just as the weeds are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The one who has ears, let him hear. “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells everything that he has, and buys that field.” Matthew 13:36-44 NASB2020 https://bible.com/bible/2692/mat.13.36-44.NASB2020

This chapter of Matthew, these recordings from God when He lived among us as one of us in Jesus the Savior, are all teachings on the response of people to the word of God made known to them. This particular section reminds us that our response to God recorded in His Word determines our eternal destiny. The appropriate response is the last verse of this section but repeated in this chapter, we are to give everything we are to God and for the glory of God because of Who He is and what He has done for us. Most people determine their own way to relate to God. Most people decide for themselves what makes God happy which happens to be exactly how they are living their lives. They then expect God to be happy with them upon their arrival before Him when He will judge their life. This is the foolishness God warns against in this chapter of the Bible. He warns people by telling all of us that His Word which records His ways reveals His will that will be the standard by which we are judged. God will judge us by His definitions and not by ours. He requires us to come to Him through Jesus for pardon from our disobedience against God’s ways and to be declared good by the life of Jesus being appropriated to us. The evidence of our having come to God for pardon and to receive His approval is a life fully committed to the work of God which is helping others understand Who He is and what He has done for humanity through Jesus the Savior. God summarizes this work by commanding us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. If this is how we truly relate to God and our fellow man then we know we are approved by God but if not then we are gambling with our eternal future.