Do You Have Enough Laborers For The Harvest?
Good Morning Friends,
A farm can only go on so long without a harvest. There is a law of sowing and reaping, and a time for both if you are serious about growing things. There is joy in the harvesting and a purpose in the feasting that misses many places of worship and lifestyles. It defeats the purpose to turn it into a sideline interest and feast all the time. Well, I guess you could but there are unintended consequences. Certainly, our grocery stores are stocked with the same fruit all the time. But if our current culture is evidence, this approach physically and spiritually turns us all into fat slobs. If people are going to modify their behavior for a healthier life the thing that changes behaviors from childhood is intergenerational. We need to think through how we plant and harvest from one generation to another. There is a season to the whole thing that should prompt us to find more successful ways of harvesting the fruit of the Spirit in the lives of the next generation. Unfortunately, we graduate kids having made the mistake of failing to plan for the reaping. Do You Have Enough Laborers For The Harvest?
Scripture: They made kings, but not through me; they set up princes, but without my knowledge. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction. Your calf is rejected, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? For it is from Israel, an artisan made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces. For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads, it shall yield no meal; if it were to yield, foreigners would devour it. When Ephraim multiplied altars to expiate sin, they became to him altars for sinning. Though I write for him the multitude of my instructions, they are regarded as a strange thing. Though they offer choice sacrifices, though they eat flesh, the Lord does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt.
Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13 (NRSV)
After they had gone away, a demoniac who was mute was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the one who had been mute spoke; and the crowds were amazed and said, “Never has anything like this been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees said, “By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons.” Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. 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 ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Matthew 9:32-38 (NRSV)
Message: We have a choice about what we sow and so a part in the making of the harvest, but when we are all wind, the whirlwind in the reaping can be a devastating thing. Having been though hurricanes in Florida I know a bit about it. Whirlwinds ruin the harvests. Now follow me carefully with this. Sowing and reaping is a well-known fundamental, physical principle of life. And the thing is that we are always to reap more than we sow. If I was to go into my garden and plant a sweat potato into the ground – in a few months’ time I would not reap one potato, I would reap lots of potatoes. If I plant a pea or bean, then in a few months’ time I would not get back one bean or pea – I will get back lots of them. That is the principle. We are to always reap more than we sow. But not only do we reap more than what we sow. We will reap more of the same of what we sow. It is no good to plant a potato if one desires carrots. There is a connection in the kind of seeds we sow, and that relates to the harvest we have. That is how it works. Hosea did not describe the sowing of the wind and the reaping of a cold front. There is a relationship to what we sow and what we harvest. And friends, God is watching exactly what we do in this regard. So, we are to sow seeds of righteousness and love so that we might harvest righteousness and love. And one of the reasons that we are here today spending some time with God is to celebrate the fact that seeds of righteousness were sown in our lives and they have grown and they have matured, and now God is with us to reap the benefits for the Kingdom to come and plant the right seed for the next generation.
Pray this morning that the seeds we plant will grow and produce an abundant harvest for the Kingdom of God. Pray we realize that the harvest is not getting someone into a pew but getting them to plant more seeds for an even greater harvest. Pray we celebrate the season of harvest with great joy. Pray we realize that the harvest is valuable and plentiful but that the workers are too few. Pray we experience the joy of the harvest. Pray we realize that the fields are ready for reaping right now. Pray we realize the need to fill and send out workers into the harvest but also to plant seeds for the next crop. Pray we celebrate the results of the seed planted in the lives of others as they learn to share a testimony of a hope in a future harvest celebrated to the glory of God.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 