Labor Regardless

            “38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.” – John 4:38

The sanctified life is one that includes discouragement, temptations, and trials; this is because every life includes discouragement, temptations, and trials.  Jesus himself prayed saying “I pray not that thou take them out of the world but keep them from the evil of the world.”  Among the more discouraging notions in my opinion is the idea of “lack of harvest” or “lack of reaping”.  The devil will tell you “clearly, God has left your ministry because there is no visible fruit.”  This is a lie laced with truth; true, God may leave your ministry and there will be no fruit, but that does not automatically mean there is no visible fruit therefore God is not there.   

In South Georgia there is a specific occupation that comes available around the May/June time period.  This occupation is known in the local vernacular as “chunkin melons”.  Every year around the beginning of summer, watermelon farmers hire young strong men to walk through their fields and throw ripe water melons into the back of a truck or bus.  These men are “reaping whereon they have bestowed no labour.”  They did none of the sowing, but are experiencing all of the reaping.  Now, do you think the farm hands that were instrumental in the planting are resentful of the “melon chunkers” in the harvesting?  NO!  Of course not, because the end goal remains the same for both parties, and that is to bring in the harvest for the owner of the land.  Furthermore, if a farmhand does not get the call to take part in the melon chunkin do you think they would feel discouraged and not want to plant come next planting season?  If they do, they should not; because the object of it all is to labor for the land owner to bring in a good crop!  Granted, harvest is often more rewarding than planting, but no matter, no discouragement should accompany either occupation because both should be focused on the ultimate goal.  Satan’s lies when placed against the backdrop of the scripture will always appear out of place.  Why should we worry, fret, and feel discouraged when there is no fruit?  If we are truly working for the “land owner” and doing His will in all things, then the season in which we labor is not our concern.  You might be planting and laboring for another who is instructed to come and reap down the road.  There is sowing preaching, and reaping preaching.  There is a time and a season for all things.  It does us no good to consider if we are sowing or reaping, rather we should be focused on laboring for the Master in every season.  Furthermore, (those who are reaping currently) take no pride or arrogance in this, you may be simply gathering the fruit of those who labored before you; praise God for the season you are called into whether planting or reaping.  Noah was a preacher of righteousness and saved only eight souls, Peter preached one sermon and saved three thousand.  What then?  Is Peter a better preacher than Noah?  Do you think Peter boasted of the souls that he saved to Noah when he walked through the gates of heaven?  Or rather did they rejoice because they were counted as “good and faithful servants?”  Utilitarian religion is no religion at all.  If you base your evangelism on numbers and how many people are walking through your doors on Sunday, then you will be quickly led astray.  Your church will soon become more of a country club, than a church.  May God help us to take the Word of God and go forward, laboring in the season where we are called; and look not to the lack of numbers or visitors as reason to doubt, but rather look to Jesus!  Look to Him no matter what season we find ourselves in and let not the devil discourage us in planting (or reaping, or anywhere in between).  Let us look to Jesus in all things, in feast or famine, in planting or reaping, for truly “God adds to the church daily such as should be saved.”  

Oswald Chambers the author of My Utmost for His Highest preached for years to soldier’s in Egypt.  Talk about a “dead end” if there ever was one; preaching to a congregation in the morning that may not even return from battle for the evening service.  It would seem to all who looked on that he was wasting his talents, but how could anyone know that his precious wife was transcribing every sermon by hand, and after his death she would go on to complied them and publish My Utmost for His Highest.  This devotional book would prove to be one of the most read devotional books in the world!  Inspiring and instructions millions to Jesus Christ!  So take courage my brother, my sister; concern not yourself what season you’re in, but rather that you have been called to the labor and God will bless it in His time.