I am sure that every boy and girl, and their parents too, will have a good idea of what is shown in this picture.
Did you guess carrots? Most people have eaten carrots. They are one of our most common vegetables. In fact, maybe you have even grown them in your vegetable garden.
But I have a surprise for you! These are not carrots at all. The leaves belong to a wildflower called Queen Anne’s lace, and the two fingers in the picture make them look like carrots. Their leaves look so much like carrot leaves that they are often called “wild carrots,” but their roots cannot be eaten. If a gardener should find Queen Anne’s Lace in his carrot patch, he would quickly pull them out and throw them on his rubbish heap. They are only a weed and are good for nothing.
Jesus Christ, God’s Son, has told us, “Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up” (Matthew 15:1313But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. (Matthew 15:13)). This means that as God looks down He knows who His real children are, and He also knows who looks like and maybe even lives with His own children, but are not truly born into His family. The Lord Jesus came to tell us how we can become a real child of God, so that we will never have to be rooted up and thrown away like the useless weed. God is “not willing that any should perish, but that ALL should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:99The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)), and He is able to save ALL who come to Him by the way He has provided. The Lord Jesus died on the cross so that we might become children of God by putting our faith in Him.
Take another look at these imitation carrots. They look so much like the real thing, but they are only fit for throwing away. Now think carefully about yourself . . . Are you a true child of God? Will God accept you? . . . Or are you only fit to be thrown away?
ML-06/25/1995