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Today I read in the book of Joel. This verse really struck me: Be ashamed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley; because the harvest of the field has perished. Joel 1:11 I’m not completely clear on what Joel is saying here, but wouldn’t it be amazing if this verse could be related to the context of Luke 4:35? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! Joel 1:11 can be applied to the above verse, so let’s take an evangelistic look at it. Be ashamed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley; because the harvest of the field has perished. We are called “laborers,” in God’s harvest, or farmers. We are to wail because the harvest has perished! Lift up your eyes…the fields are white for harvest! One day it will be too late. One day the harvest, or the people who don’t know Christ, will have no second chance. They will have perished. Imagine that you have a garden. You’re growing squash. You watch as it turns from the yellow flower, into the little pale vegetable and finally into a big, yellow squash. Imagine that you have a field full of ripe squash. You look out your window and see all the yellow squashes under the prickly green leaves and you say, “Yep, my squash is ready to be harvested.” But you don’t do a thing about it. Day after day you look out your window and see those vegetables. One morning you see deer wandering around in your patch. You see the squash getting riper day after day. But still, you don’t do a thing about it. Soon it’s too late. You’ve waited too long; your squash is no good. Your whole field is ruined. That seems crazy, right? It’s the same with this world. It’s a field full of ripe fruit. You can see it everywhere, on TV, in magazines, and on the street. People who want to trust in something, but they don’t know what. So they go after the wrong things. You can go to the mall and see it plainly. Look at the empty expression in people’s eyes. They fill their lives with entertainment, friends, material things, health care. (hey, no matter how well you take care of your body you’re going to die sometime, right?) All this will pass away. One day everything they hold dear will be ripped from their hands by death. Then it will be too late. So what do we do? We look out our kitchen windows day after day. We see the ripe fruit and say, “Yep, Lord, those people need you. They’re ready for harvest.” But we don’t do a thing. One day it will be too late. One day we will have waited too long, the harvest will have perished. Time is running out. So let’s go be laborers in God’s harvest today. Let’s obey his call to go and reach out to this dying world. |
Thoughts
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