Harvest Time

-

“He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.”

Proverbs 10:5

 

When harvest time comes around I’m always amazed at the number of combines I see with their lights on working late into the night. Harvest is not the time for sitting around. It is the most intense part of the farmer’s year.

On a more general scale, when it’s time to work, the wise person will be busy with it. The foolish make excuses, sleep late, and put off what needs to be done until it’s too late to complete the tasks or until the tasks can only be completed in a subpar manner.

What the foolish don’t see is how their behavior impacts their family and the people around them. Parents feel the burden and, yes, even the shame of working hard to train their children to be diligent in their work and not seeing it take root.

In contrast, the family who sees their children grow to engage in the work of the family and even initiate that work without being told is one that rejoices in the them. This also applies to the church family. Those who are spiritually mentored and who grow up to engage in the work of the ministry, even and especially in the intense times, these spiritual children bring joy to the church family.

God gave us six days to work and one to rest. The wise are diligent to do their work when it is time to work. In the harvest time, the days are longer and more challenging. Let us not be foolish when it comes to our own work, and let us not be foolish when it comes to the work of the ministry. When the harvest comes, we need to roll up our sleeves and get to it. May we prepare our hearts for such a time.

Lord of the harvest, give us the wisdom that resists avoiding the work that you give to us for our benefit. Give us wisdom to put aside our foolish distractions and engage in the work of the harvest of souls for your Kingdom. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Devoted to keeping Jesus Christ the main thing.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Self-Control

-
“A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” Proverbs 25:28   A city which builds walls around it does so to protect itself from its enemies. If the wall is in disrepair or broken down, it leaves itself open to attack. There is no longer any reasonable sense of security. The comparison to a man without self-control follows. He has no reason to believe that he will be protected from his enemies. The interesting twist is that his enemies come from within instead of without. His lack of self-control keeps him unprotected from the evil that is within his heart. The things that Jesus talked about in Mark 7:21-22, “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.” When we receive Jesus as the Lord of our life, he begins a work in our hearts which puts a hold on the evil that comes from within. Self-control is a frui
Read more

Train Up A Child

-
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6   When our son was young, we had this verse displayed in his room. The picture that went with it was a train. Although that was a play on words, there is something to be said about how an actual train works that is insightful in our walk with Christ. A train does not deviate from predetermined tracks, unless there is a bad accident. The train is not like a car that can choose its’ own route. In order to go anywhere it must have the two rails to guide it. In the same way our spiritual direction has been pre-determined by the Lord. If we are to go anywhere, spiritually speaking, it must be in line with the Word of God and the Spirit of God. We must have both. The Pharisees had the Word of God, but their hearts were hard. They were not led by God’s Spirit. The Corinthians were led by the Spirit, but the apostle Paul had many words of instruction for them because they were no
Read more

Rescue The Perishing

-
“Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.” Proverbs 24:11   This proverb highlights two different ways that people are heading to their deaths. Certainly it is talking about physical death, but it can also apply to spiritual and other kinds of deaths. Some are having life forcibly taken from them. Others are stumbling to their own death, unaware where they are headed. Both need an intervention. One of the terms used to describe the Lord Jesus is advocate. 1 John 2:1 says, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Because sin affects us all, we all need an advocate. Thank God that he is merciful and advocates for us. As Jesus is our advocate who rescues us from death, we in turn as his followers are called to follow his same example and advocate for those who are headed that direction. Our ver
Read more