Patient Harvest

          In the first three gospels Jesus tells the people about the soil and the seeds. He speaks of the hard, shallow, rocky and good soils and what happened to seeds sown on each. As believers we sow God’s word on many types of soils (souls). Some of the soils we interact with may be on a daily or weekly basis. And the Holy Spirit may touch our hearts about some. So we then are led to talk with them on a more personal level, to share with them who Christ is and what He is about. Now some may flatly reject what we have to say. Some may listen and then politely no thank you. And some may eagerly take in what we have to say.

          My focus, with this paper, is on those who flatly reject or who just politely listen and say NO. I know for a lot of us desire to participate in the harvest. We talk with others and lead them to the Lord right away. But in many cases the Lord does not have that in mind for us to do. The Holy Spirit has shown me many times the harvest is NOT FOR ME TO DO! My job, or better yet His purpose for me, is to prepare the ground for sowing of the seeds. God has had me grow in patience showing me that my wants and desires in these circumstances do not matter. Yes, I do want and desire that this person or that person accepts Jesus, but if that happens later, apart from me, is part of His plan.

          To prepare the soil, to me, is to live our lives how the word of God instructs us to. To continue to be a light every day for others to see, and possibly be drawn to. So then using those times to share the word of God with those who come to us with the hurts and sorrows and troubles of this world has laid on them. To daily pray for those for those whose lives may be turned upside down sharing Jesus’ encouraging words to those troubled, frightened, hurting people. So to prepare the soil, if you will, of other’s lives, is to live our lives as Christ has shown us to, through His word.

          Now after we have tilled the soil we may be ready to plant the seeds of God’s word. To sit down with someone in particular and share with them Jesus. Giving our testimony of what Jesus has done for us, how we were at onetime lost, at the bottom of a pit. One the one we had dug ourselves because of our former sinful life. We share with them how we humbly came to Christ and the way He took us out to that hole. How He planted Himself in our hearts and saved us.

          The first two jobs take time and patience to do. The people we touch will have varying degrees of ‘hardness’. This may require many passes with the ‘plow’ of God’s word. Preparing the souls of those around us may take years. So if that is the case, we need to keep in mind that our lives MUST reflect God in us! By living our lives by Christ’s standards each pass of the ‘plow’ turns over the ‘soil’ in those lives, so we are then successful in planting the word of God in the ‘good’ ground when the time comes.

          Our daily study of His word helps us in two ways. 1) it will prepare us in the sowing of the seeds of truth. 2)it will give us the strength and courage to boldly step onto the field to plant the seeds of Christ’s truth. And we may have to plant and replant many times before the seeds take hold. So the knowledge, then, that we attain will enable us to boldly share with others what we have learned from the Lord God in our lives. It will also give us the patience to do the plowing and sowing, and the patience to watch over the ‘ground’ and replant, if necessary, so that what we have sown is on the ‘good soil.’

          Patience is a virtue that God gives to all, but to some He gives extra. To some He teaches to slow down, taking the time to share the gospel HIS way. Many times Christ will walk with us the extra mile in order that we obediently follow His leading, keeping us from “taking our hands from the plow and looking back.” His desire is for us to serve Him, so Jesus may have to plow and re-plow our hearts fields in order for His seeds to have the good soil to properly grow in us.

          So then we must not concern ourselves with a harvest. As Christ leads us, we must look to what He wants us to do. We must be patient, then, to just plant, or to just plow, or to do both. Many times the harvest will not be ours to do. So in those cases we must not turn our backs on those “who just don’t get it.” Our focus must be on the Lord. Because He will give us the strength to have a “Patient Harvest.”