“And the servants of the Master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did You not sow good seed in Your field? How then does it have wheat?’” The answer, Jesus explains: “An enemy has done this.” (Matthew 13:27)
According to ABC7 in Rancho Cordova, California, a gas station worker misplaced a decimal point at a gas station. Instead of pricing premium gas for $6.90 a gallon, his misplaced decimal offered premium gas at the pump for just $0.69 a gallon. Drivers hadn’t seen gas at that price for 44 years. Hundreds of drivers ended up getting premium gas at this discounted price for several hours before the mistake was discovered.
The misplaced decimal? Well, it cost the gas station $16,000, and it cost the worker his job. But now imagine that the worker moved the decimal the other way. Imagine that he was charging gas at $69 a gallon. There might be a few upset customers who didn’t notice until after they filled up their tank, having to pay that much.
That decimal placement might have made the gas station some money, but certainly would have lost quite a few customers after such a mistake. Either way, the placement of the decimal matters. I’d like to propose the same is true in the placement of our Christian response to bad things we see in this world. On the one hand, we may view the bad things in this world and respond with harsh judgment to those responsible people with the judgment and sentence that they are beyond God’s reach.
Using the decimal analogy, such a response could be likened to the moving of the decimal to the wrong place, like that gas station worker did, and undervaluing humans who are worth a lot more to God. In fact, God is seeking to bring salvation to all people. Or perhaps we might respond to the shifting cultural values against God’s Word by becoming isolationists who seek to create some kind of sterile community and call it our church home.
Again, using the decimal analogy, we may be moving the decimal to the wrong place and overvaluing our own righteousness against those of the world. So how do you respond to the bad behavior and sinful actions you see in our culture today? Who’s to blame? Through a parable, Jesus was asked about this in Matthew 13:27: “And the servants of the Master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did You not sow good seed in Your field? How then does it have weeds?’” The answer, Jesus explains: “An enemy has done this.”
The devil is that enemy.
Prayer
Father, help us to see people as You see them, valuing them as worthy of Your love and salvation and never beyond Your reach. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.