THE HARVEST IS RIPE

This is a picture of a banana plant/tree that is heavily laden with fruit.  For a while now, it has been carrying this load - even through the (hopefully) just concluded dry season in Uganda. On several occasions, I asked our shamba boy whether the plant was ready for harvesting, and he always answered in the negative.  I warned him at some point that the plant is about to start ripening and this would make it unpalatable as a meal.  He however kept assuring me that it was not yet ready. This morning however, I noticed that the fruit had started ripening and I asked him to cut it down whether he thought it was ready or not.  If we delay any further,  i thought, the birds of the air will certainly come and enjoy the fruit.

This scenario made me think about the Lord Our God. He has asked us to bring in the harvest of souls to Him but we keep on thinking that it is not yet time or that we still have time.  There is often that #One person who God has consistently convicted us to talk to about the Good News of the Gospel of Christ, but of we have thought it is either inappropriate, scary, too early, or other reason like we don't know what to say or we have given many other excuses like the people who were invited to a feast in Luke 14:16-24 (NKJV) below

16 Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17 and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ 18 But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ 20 Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ 23 Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”

Sometimes when we wait too long, the fruit ripens ( the first stage of decay) or the birds of the air come and consume it ( a symbolism of death if i borrow from the interpretation of Joseph in Genesis 40: 16 - 18). Sometimes it is distance that makes it very difficult for us to share this incredible good news. In so doing, we miss out on obeying God and His Commands to us. As a result, many spend days in depression, poverty, bondage, sadness, and other forms of poor living - and even death- simply because of our excuses and disobedience. This is most unfortunate especially when he says that "Obedience is better than sacrifice" ( 1 Samuel 15 : 22). God had commanded that King Saul destroys the Amalekites but Saul spared Agag, King of the Amalekites). Note that the Amalekites were the first nation to attack the Jews as they left Egypt. In Deuteronomy 25:17-18(NKJV), the Lord said  “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, 18 how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God.   It is because of this that God sought to punish the Amalekites ( Exodus 17: 16). He knew that they would always seek to destroy the Jews. 

However, due to the disobedience of King Saul, the Amalekites arose to extinguish the Jews, hundreds of years later,  through their descendant Haman the Aggagite.( Esther 3).  Take note that an Amalekite also sought to take credit for the death of King Saul in (2 Samuel 1: 8- 10). It is no wonder that as soon as David knew who this man was, He had him extinguished for inter alia, God's command to the Jews ( 1 Samuel 1 : 13 - 16).  This means that when we do not obey the Lord, we condemn or expose many people to the risk of the "birds of the air" and "ripening."  It is therefore important for us to obey the call because God knows that when more souls are drawn back to Him, their future is secure and they shall have life "more abundantly" ( John 10: 10).  

Consequently, we need to obey the call of the Lord to reach out and spread the love to all and sundry.  In Matthew 9: 37, the Bible says that 'then He (Jesus) said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Are you a laborer or a Bystander? Let us go out and harvest souls for the Lord. Let us wait no more. Let us avoid a situation where they will be eaten up by the birds of the air or if they ripen and because useless to the Kingdom

The Harvest is aplenty

#The One Campaign