THE HARVEST

The other night, I was flipping through the channels and landed on one of my favorites … the History Channel. I wasn’t finding much else to watch, so I started watching a show called “Harvest.” Having grown up in farming country and being surrounded by fields now, I’m not sure why it caught my attention, but I’m glad it did. It’s not that I’m likely to start watching the show. In fact, that may have been the last episode.

What caught my attention was their urgency. The various harvest crews were near the end of their season, and they were each in a hurry to finish the job for their own reasons: to get home, to finish the job before the crop got too dry, or to finish the job so they could harvest their own crops. At any rate, they pushed hard and finished the work.

Their urgency in finishing the Harvest reminded me of Jesus’ urgency about another type of harvest … that of souls:

Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. (John 4:35 ESV)

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." (Matthew 9:36-38 ESV)

Now, I have a few questions that we all ought to consider:
~Are our eyes open to see the harvest all around us, as Jesus did?
~Are we ready and willing to do our part, or are we content to sit back and watch it (like a TV show)?
~Do we sense just how urgent the work of the Harvest is?

I hope we catch that sense of urgency and act on it. As 1 Thessalonians 5:2 says, “...you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." (ESV) So, let’s tend to the harvest, heeding the words of Christ!

In His grip,
Pastor Decker