Tremendous deal to be had

We have a huge organic garden at Honey Lake Plantation this year. It is now producing some of the best tasting vegetables that I’ve ever put in my mouth. Squash, red potatoes, peppers, onions and tomatoes are coming in now, with peas, corn, cantaloupes, and watermelons right around the corner.

I haven’t tilled the soil, planted seeds, hoed weeds, or done anything towards getting the garden to this point, and yet I get to reap its benefits and enjoy the harvest. Pretty good deal eh?

I was pondering this yesterday as I wandered the garden looking for some ripe tomatoes to pick, and I thought about how God offers the same deal, only on a much more grand scale. Jesus said that vast fields of human souls are ripe for the harvest. He did all of the work to sow the seeds and prepare them for harvest, and yet we can become reapers and earn wages, gather fruit for eternal life, and rejoice together with the Lord in the harvest.

That sounds like an excellent deal to me. When I reviewed this verse this morning I noted the sense of urgency in it and thought it was very appropriate. One thing I have learned about the harvest in our garden, when the crops are ripe for harvesting we need to get them harvested or lose out because the opportunity does not last forever. Jesus said that abundant fields were ripe for harvest, but the workers were few. Some of us are going to get rich and some will lose out on all of it.

Hmmm What are we waiting for? This deal won’t last forever. Who are you going to witness to this week?

John 4:31-38
“Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete His work. Do you not say, Four months more, then comes the harvest? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps’. I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”