So much corn has been cut already! I keep forgetting that it’s mid-September and the fall harvest is well under way. Apples, along with cider, caramel, and pumpkin everything, are making their way to farmers’ stands and the grocery aisles. It’s the time of year when farmers are able to reap what they have sown after months of work and care. This year, after the abnormally dry months this summer, their harvest is especially well deserved.
I wonder, if we were to look at our lives, would we be able to say that we have cultivated a good harvest? Have we been productive members of society? Have we contributed more toward the betterment of the world or more toward the negativity? Have we invested in others and made a positive and meaningful impact during our time here? It’s a thought-provoking and challenging question, at least for me. The one main question I ask myself is whether I have brought God’s gospel and freeing truth to others during my time on earth. Have I allowed Him to use me for His purposes? Have I been a good and faithful servant? All in all, no I haven’t. The best I can even hope for Him to tell me is, “I suppose ya did okay, kid… at least you tried.” But that’s something I hope the Lord continues working on in my life.
God’s Word talks a lot about harvest. It is rich with metaphor. I love the verses where we are assured that we worship a God of justice and accountability. There’s not much better than those scriptures to keep us honest and humble. Proverb 11:18 states that “A wicked person earns deceptive wages, but the one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.” Proverb 22:8 affirms that “Whoever sows injustice reaps calamity, and the rod they wield in fury will be broken.” 2 Corinthians 9:6 tells us “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” Now, that’s not to say that when bad things happen, it is because we did something wrong. Rather, in the grand scheme of things, when we live a life following the Lord, with Jesus as our Savior, we will reap eternal life with our God who so immeasurably loves us. Galatians 6:7-10 tells us “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” Do good to all people… Am I doing that? What would my harvest look like if I were to reap what I have sown?
God refers to those on earth as a harvest. There are souls here on earth who do not know Him at all. In Luke 10:2, Jesus tells His appointed seventy-two that “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.” Have we sown good seeds during our time on this earth? Have we been one of those workers helping in His harvest?
I love 1 Corinthians 3:7-9 and how it reminds us Who is really the One doing the work. It says that “Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.” We are simply instruments through which the Holy Spirit can make eternal impacts on others. If you’re a guitar, God is the One strumming the beautiful music that touches others’ hearts. Without Him, you would be just a strangely-shaped, depressingly hollow piece of wood. Likewise, if we are God’s field, He is the One who bestows the fruits and creates the harvest. We are just the helpers. Am I willing to be used? Am I listening for His direction? Am I ready to act upon the calling He will place on me?
The parable in Matthew 13 includes several parables about seeds and the harvest which results from a variety of scenarios. The seed will be impacted by the ground and environment in which it falls. A mustard seed also gets honorable mention more toward the middle of the chapter. But between those parables is a more harrowing one. It goes like this:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
The enemy is Satan. The evil One who loves to destroy our potential, our well-being, our relationship with the Lord. Unfortunately, some of us fields have weeds right now, or are even full of them. Some of us are one big giant bed of weeds and are at the risk of not being gathered into the Lord’s barn come harvest time. Does that strike you at all?! Jesus said those words! And He explained them in later verses to reveal that this is indeed the meaning of the parable. Forget about the downside, the burning or the weeping and gnashing of teeth, if you will. Look at the potential plus side – we have the opportunity to be stored in God’s barn forever! To be with Him always! Who wants to pass that up?! I don’t think anyone wants to, so long as they believe. It’s the believing that holds a lot of us up. It’s the giving in and having faith in something for once. Giving up control and our egos and our pride and realizing the truth. Some of us have hardened hearts, which is ironically the most perfect, fertile soil for those nasty, wicked weeds to grow and multiply.
How is your field looking? What would your harvest be like if it took place right now?
Revelation 14:15, HLC
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