“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 these things. 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.” Satan will tell you “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 because there is no visible fruit, God is not there.
Behind my house sits a fully grown pecan tree. It was there when I bought the house and will probably be there when we sell it. Every year in November the tree will drop beautifully ripe pecans for me to walk outside and collect. I am “reaping whereon I have bestowed no labour.” I did none of the sowing but get to experience all of the reaping (and the fresh, sugar coated pecans!). Most would admit, harvest is often more rewarding than planting. Planting is hard, expensive, and exacts a terrible amount of hope and faith. Therefore, most would rather be a part of the harvest, than toil in the planting. What we must remember is that you might be planting and laboring for another who is instructed to come and reap. 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. Rather, 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. 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?” This is a fallacy of utilitarian religion, which 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 a servant to the sinner rather than to Christ. The culture is more like a country club, than a church. Let us rather 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! 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 soldiers 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 compile 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 instructing 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.
