While the disciples were hungry for their next meal and looking for something to eat, Jesus was hungry for the harvest, hungry to do His Father's will, hungry to share the life-saving message of salvation to lost souls that were swarming all around him. In chapter 4 of his Gospel, the Apostle John records:
"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."
Things are the same today. Just look. The harvest is plentiful. Our problem is we don't take the time to "look." "Looking" means not only seeing people, but caring enough to equip yourself in order to be able to engage people in meaningful conversation about the state of the souls and their eternal welfare, and then stepping out in faith to engage the people around us with key questions that sink to the heart of the soul like a salvation sickle. It literally could mean life or death for people.
I had some running around to do today, as we all often do. Stopped off at Sonic to get drinks at the happy hour with my girls. Shared a million dollar bill tract with Brienna. She's a believer who attends a good church here locally. She asked me if I wanted the tract back. I told her to keep and use it to fish for men by giving it to someone she knows who may not be a born again believer. I gave her some to take with her.
At Academy Sports, while checking out, I had a good conversation with the young man about eternal life. The million dollar bill tracts attracted the attention of several other coworkers, so we passed some out to them as well. I'm always amazed at how interested people are in those tracts. Some sow seeds. Others reap the harvest. These first two encounters I would consider good seed sowing.
At Walmart, I had a great conversation with Cody. Cody didn't know his eternal destiny. He hoped that his good works would save him. In John 3, Jesus said whoever does not repent of their sins and trust in him alone as Lord and Savior "will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him (v.36)." If Cody died today without repenting and trusting in Christ alone, his good works would not save for he would be under the wrath of God's divine judgment for all of his sins, just as the good works of a serial killer would not erase the guilt of his heinous crimes. I shared the gospel with gospel with Cody and encouraged him to act upon it before it's too late. I pray he will. That very well could have been a reaping encounter.
Then there was Jessica at Walmart. She believed that Jesus Christ died for her sins, but she didn't understand how that saved her from her sins. I urged her to read the tract that I gave her, which explained how Jesus' substitutionary atonement purchased our salvation.
The harvest is indeed plentiful. Will you begin to LOOK for opportunities daily to thrust in your sickle of prepared questions that can help people focus on their eternal destiny and take the steps that are essential for salvation?
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