November 6, 2021January 5, 2024

The Harvest is Now

by in From The Desk of Pastor Gene
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The Harvest is Now
 
As I drove to the airport in Omaha recently, I saw combines and semi-trucks in the fields on both sides of I-29 for several miles. It was an impressive sight to see. In all the years growing up in the midst of a farming region in South West Ohio spreading West into Indiana and now living in the tri-state area of Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota that is also a farming region, I’ve never known a farmer to miss a harvest. I’ve heard stories of a farmer here or there missing a harvest due to a tragedy but that is very rare. Even in those cases, other farmers and family typically step in to bring in the harvest. When the time comes for the harvest, the farmer brings in the harvest. You can count on it.
 
Jesus spoke of harvest as well. Although, He spoke of a different kind of harvest. It was a harvest that comes as a result of people getting saved by believing in Jesus as Savior and Lord.
 
MT 9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
 
If we want to join Jesus in the fields reaping the harvest, these three verses give us the following insight:
1. Jesus saw the people and their need. We must learn to see people and their need like Jesus sees them. It is amazing how we can walk through a crowded arena or airport and not really see the people.
2. Jesus had compassion for the people. As Christians we often judge and criticize the unsaved. We argue and debate them as enemies. Instead, Jesus sympathetically noticed the people and their need.
3. Jesus recognized the time for harvest. As we work in the fields, we continue to plant the seeds of the gospel. However, unlike the farm, it is always time for harvest. The time for the harvest is now.
4. Jesus considered the need for laborers. If you are a disciple, you are already a laborer in God’s fields. We don’t get the luxury of observing and evaluating laborers from the side ditches. Please get out of the ditch and step into the fields.
5. Jesus directed his disciples to pray and focus their prayer on a specific type of laborer. We don’t simply need workhands, but we specifically need laborers who are sent by the Lord to bring in the harvest. Obviously, there is a great need for more laborers.

Please take a few minutes to evaluate your own motives and actions.  Have you accepted your responsibility, as a disciple of Jesus, to join other laborers sent by the Lord into the fields to bring in the harvest? Are you praying for the Lord to send out more laborers?
 
As my mind travels back to driving down I-29 toward Omaha and picturing the grain flowing out of the combine’s unloader into the semi-truck trailer, I think about each grain representing a lost soul that needs to be harvested. And yes, I realize not every soul is ready for harvest. However, we can join God in His fields and harvest as He gives us the opportunity. For that matter, as we are harvesting we can pray for more laborers to be sent out by our Lord. The Harvest is now! After all, the harvest won’t delay for a tragedy, not even COVID-19.

A Work in Progress,

Pastor Gene