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marbella3 70F
2483 posts
8/22/2017 4:39 am
RIPE FOR HARVEST

Read: John 4:35–38

Bible in a Year: Psalms 110–112; 1 Corinthians 5

Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. John 4:35

In late summer, we went for a walk in the New Forest in England and had fun picking the blackberries that grew in the wild while watching the horses frolicking nearby. As I enjoyed the bounty of the sweet fruit planted by others perhaps many years before, I thought of Jesus’s words to His disciples: “I sent you to reap what you have not worked for” (John 4:38.

I love the generosity of God’s kingdom reflected in those words. He lets us enjoy the fruits of someone else’s labors, such as when we share our love for Jesus with a friend whose family—unbeknown to us—has been praying for her for years. I also love the implied limits of Jesus’s words, for we may plant seeds that we will never harvest but someone else may. Therefore, we can rest in the tasks before us, not being hoodwinked into thinking that we are responsible for the outcomes. God’s work, after all, doesn’t depend on us. He has all of the resources for a bountiful harvest, and we are privileged to play a role in it.

God, may I be alert to the opportunities to share Your good news.

I wonder what fields ready for harvest are before you? Before me? May we heed Jesus’s loving instruction: “Open your eyes and look at the fields!” (v. 35).
Creator God, thank You for Your great generosity in entrusting us to do Your work. May I be alert to the opportunities to share Your good news.

We can reap what others have sown.




MrsJoe 76F
17388 posts
8/22/2017 6:46 am

And we can sow what others will reap!

Be a prism, spreading God's light and love, not a mirror reflecting the world's hatred.