When the World Turns Angry
When division rises and voices grow louder, it can feel as though the world is tearing itself apart. But Jesus once told a parable about wheat and weeds growing side by side until the harvest. Perhaps the question isn’t who the weeds are. Perhaps the question is what it means for us to remain wheat.
“We are living in a time when the wheat and the weeds are being separated,” I heard a woman say recently while reflecting on these words of Jesus:
“Don’t think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword.”
(Matthew 10:34 WEB)
Those words stayed with me.
They felt unsettling at first. After all, Jesus is the Prince of Peace. We can ask Him to fill us with peace in the moments of our anxiety and He is able.
Yet as I reflected on the strange intensity of our current culture, His words in Matthew 10:34 began to make a different kind of sense.
Have you noticed how quickly people turn against one another now?
The United States once felt more… united. Yet in recent years, the fever with which brother fights against brother seems to grow stronger. The more loudly our culture cries out for unity, the more deeply divided people become.
Brother against brother.
Neighbor against neighbor.
Anger rises quickly as disagreement is treated as hate. Moral language fills our public conversations, yet the tone behind it often carries very little mercy.
Which raises a difficult question: What if this division is not accidental?
Considering we have an omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent God, nothing that unfolds in human history ever surprises Him—including the way we are behaving today.
The Parable
Jesus once told a parable about a farmer whose field contained both wheat and weeds growing side by side. When the servants offered to pull up the weeds immediately, the farmer told them to wait. If they removed them too early, they might uproot the wheat as well.
Instead, both were allowed to grow together until the harvest. Only then could they be separated without damaging the good plants. And by that time, the difference between the two would be unmistakable.
“He’s Bringing a Sword”
Let’s revisit His words: “I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword.”
Sword imagery often makes us think of war and killing, but Scripture paints another picture. The Word of God is described as a sword; one that separates truth from lies.
“For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12 WEB)
In Revelation, Jesus is described as returning with a double-edged sword in his mouth, symbolizing his authority to make clear divisions between true motivations and superficial actions.
Is the Harvest Time Near?
Is it possible that, in this season, Jesus is allowing the field to ripen? Allowing wheat and weeds to grow side by side until their fruit becomes fully visible?
Could we be witnessing a time when the distinction between the two is becoming clearer; when what is rooted in God and what is not is no longer easily hidden?
What if some of the turmoil we see today is not random, but a kind of unveiling? A revealing of what has always been there. But there is an important reminder within that parable.
Even if the difference becomes visible, it is not the wheat’s job to uproot the weeds. That work belongs to the Lord of the harvest. Our responsibility is something else entirely.
What Do We Do When We Can’t Pull Weeds?
Recently I came across a sentence in Beth Moore’s Bible study “Walking With God” that helped put words to this:
“We are right to pray for, plead for, seek after and work toward resolutions to solvable problems, but we’re mistaken to think we can stop this fallen world from falling.”
In other words, we cannot out-argue, outshout, or out-reason the chaos of the world and expect to change its overall trajectory. That does not mean we stop praying or stop engaging. It means we stop expecting the world to behave as though it is not fallen.
The author continued:
“When we begin to face the true condition of our culture, our own disordered affections, worldly absorptions, and personal contributions to the madness and resolve to look to God and the Scriptures for a better way to live, we’re already pivoting northward.”
This world can improve if we focus our effort closer to home.
We grow by aligning ourselves with Scripture, walking daily with the Lord, and remaining in conversation with Him through His Word and prayer.
When we walk in the light, we begin to reflect it. That is where real difference begins.
A Weedy Encounter
Thank you for staying with me through this. I want to take one step further and offer a real example of what this can look like.
Not long ago, I found myself in a heated comment thread online. The original post was controversial, and people quickly divided into opposing sides. Wanting to bring balance, I asked a question that invited a broader perspective.
That invitation was not well received.
My comment drew immediate ire. Some accused me of atrocities completely unrelated to me or to the discussion at hand. Others questioned my right to speak based on what qualities they thought they could gather from my profile. A grasping. An attack on character.
This current personal season in Ephesians 5 has drawn me to expose the fruitless deeds of darkness—to see clearly what is happening, to gently point others toward truth, and to demonstrate godly character in difficult moments. That last part requires supernatural strength. The peace I felt in the middle of that exchange did not come from me.
There was one individual who repeatedly returned to provoke a response. When I say individual, know I am considering it could have been a false persona created with the help of AI or bots. But, “she” seemed skilled at escalating conflict and appeared frustrated when I did not respond with anger.
Eventually, I looked at her profile.
It was filled with screenshots of arguments—cropped in a way that removed her own words while highlighting the angry responses of others. She framed them as hostile and herself as innocent, often adding a laughing emoji and the phrase, “Thanks for the content!”
It became clear this was intentional provocation.
Over several days, I asked God what I was dealing with and whether I should continue engaging. Scripture warns against correcting a mocker or casting pearls before swine, so I asked for discernment.
As I reflected, certain patterns stood out—mockery, manipulation, a desire for control. The name Jezebel came to mind.
In Scripture, Jezebel was a queen who used power, deception, and intimidation to silence God’s prophets and protect her influence. Even at the end of her life, she presented herself with the same pride and defiance that had defined her.
The behavior I was witnessing carried that spirit.
So I stopped engaging. My final response was simple: “I’m asking God to bless you. I know it must be very hard to live the life you’re living.” And then I stepped away and prayed for her.
Bear Different Fruit
Encounters like this bring the parable into focus. Wheat and weeds grow side by side for a time. Often, they look similar, until the season of maturity reveals the difference.
Moments like this also reveal something in us. Anger invites anger. Mockery invites mockery.
But the kingdom of God does not grow that way. It grows quietly. Steadily. Through lives that quietly bear different fruit.
Our task is not to uproot those we believe are weeds. Our task is to remain wheat.
To live differently.
To refuse bitterness.
To speak truth without cruelty.
To resist the pull of rage and mockery.
The world may grow louder and darker, but the call of Christ has not changed. Walk with Him. Remain set apart. Let the fruit of your life reveal who planted you.
When the harvest comes, the difference will be clear. And the Lord of the field will do what only He can do.
Scriptural Framework
Matthew 13:24–30 — The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds.
Matthew 13:36–43 — Jesus explains the parable.
Matthew 10:34 — “Don’t think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword.”
Ephesians 5:11 — “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them.”
Proverbs 9:8 — “Don’t reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you.”
Matthew 7:6 — “Don’t give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls before the pigs…”
Hebrews 4:12 — “For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword… able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Revelation 1:16 — “Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword.”
Scripture quoted from the World English Bible (WEB), public domain.
