Inspirational:🌾 Wheat, Tares, and the Hungry Heart

by: Linda Kirby/WGON 3.9.26

This morning I heard a news story about young people rushing toward the old churches — especially the Catholic Church — and it stirred a question in me. If they’re truly reaching for Jesus, even if they walk into a place that won’t feed them well, are they still covered?

Scripture answered that for me.

The Bible doesn’t say, “Find the perfect church and you’ll be saved.”

It says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.”

The thief on the cross had no time for doctrine or discipleship. He simply believed, and Jesus received him. That’s the gospel.

So yes — if a young person genuinely turns their heart toward Jesus, they are His, even if they start in a church that serves more tradition than truth. They’re just standing in the wrong food line. They’re hungry for steak and potatoes, but they accidentally lined up where the dog food is being handed out. They’re alive — just not nourished.

But that’s not the same thing as the tares Jesus talked about.

Tares aren’t confused believers.

They aren’t immature believers.

They aren’t misfed believers.

Tares are people who look religious but have no life of God in them at all. Wheat bows its head because it’s full of grain — and Christians bow their hearts because they are full of Jesus. But tares stand tall and stiff because they have no fruit, and spiritually, they bow to no one.

That’s the difference.

Those young people running toward old churches?

If they’re seeking Jesus, He sees that.

He honors that.

He receives that.

And in time, He leads His sheep to better food.

Because being fed is about growth, not salvation.

Only Jesus saves.

Good teaching simply helps us grow into what He already made us.

And every hungry heart that turns toward Christ will find Him — because He promised it.

“My sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me.”

And He never loses one.