SPIRITUAL HARVEST

Harvest is the climax of the farmer’s year. All the toil of springtime ploughing and sowing has one goal in view. All the rhythm of the farming calendar is geared to the production of the best possible harvest. To see his crops gathered in is for the farmer the token of a well-spent year.

There is also a spiritual harvest which should dominate the thinking of the Christian. There is the fruit of holiness in his own individual life that he longs to see. There is the harvest of souls as the elect are gathered in from the world by means of the preaching of the gospel.

But farming is no easy task and there are many hazards. to be overcome. There are birds at every stage — picking up the seed as it is sown, uprooting the buried grain, ravaging the fields as harvest draws on. There are pests which attack the grain and various forms of infection which can blight the crop. A good farmer has to be on the alert against his many foes. He has to take action, whether by spraying his crops with pesticides or by shooting the voracious pigeons which can devastate a crop.

And there are many enemies of the work of God. There are the birds of the air ready to steal away the word of God. There are the constant spoiling activities of the evil one who tries to ruin the harvest, so that instead of a rich crop of holy living the Christian produces a stunted growth and the Church is barren and fruitless.

That is why there is a constant call in the New Testament to be on the alert. We are to ‘watch and pray’. We are to be ‘sober’ and ‘vigilant’. We are to beward of ‘false prophets’ and ‘evil workers’. Armed with the Word of God and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, we are to resist anything or anyone liable to impair the harvest of the soul or the harvest in the Church.

But we must use care in our precautions. It is just conceivable that a farmer, in his concern to destroy pests, could overtreat a crop. It is possible for some well-meaning helper to shoot some pigeons and to do a lot of damage to the growing corn as he tramps after his prey. And the Christian must also be careful. It is possible to become so obsessed with the power of the evil One that we forget the almighty power of Christ. It is possible to be so taken up with resisting the enemies of the gospel that we trample on the growing crop of graciousness, meekness and gentleness. The farmer’s precautions are, after all, only the secondary task. That does not mean they are not important. Of course they are vitally important. But they are only one aspect of the total task of producing the harvest. So, too, we must never become unbalanced. We must never become so concerned with resisting evil that we forget to cultivate good, so busy detecting what is false that we fail to develop what is true. We need to keep always in view our positive aim — a spiritual harvest which is pleasing to God and which brings glory to Him.

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen