Summer is ended! In my part of the world the green leaves will turn to a variety of colors that will dazzle our eyes. As the days pass it will get cooler, and then colder. We know this because it has been our experience year after year.
The observations of older people have always interested me. I remember a farmer once telling me that if you dug a hole for a fence post in the wrong moon phase you could put the post in the hole and not have enough dirt to finish filling the hole. On the other hand if you dug the hole in the correct moon phase you would have sufficient dirt to pack down for a firm hold. Is it some kind of magic? No, it is simple observation over a long period of time.
It appears that we too often endure the long, cold winter without seeing fruit for our labor and grow so discouraged that we fail to reap the harvest when it is all around us. A vicious cycle follows until we complain about the lack of harvest while the seed is still in the barn.
The Lord permitted those that would follow Him to catch a great many fish after they had worked all night without taking anything. When they acknowledged their amazement at what He had done, He declared that He would make them fishers of men. Jesus came to seek those that would be saved. He has invited us to join Him in His great commission to see people saved by His grace. Is it possible that we could allow this most noble cause to be buried under the rubble of daily activities? Could it be that we would permit the misuse of this calling to seek converts to cause us to neglect this sacred duty? Might it be that we fear failure should we dedicate our lives to this task to seek the lost?
I would like to find some acceptable excuses for my lack of diligence in reaching out to a lost world, but there aren’t any. It is true that evangelism is only part of the Great Commission, but it is part. As a matter of fact, it is the first part. If it was important enough for our Lord to come to earth to seek the lost should it not be important enough for us to rise to the occasion in our generation to go into the highways and hedges looking for them? If we are just too busy to evangelize we are just too busy with something that should be left undone!
We know that the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation.” We must broadcast the seed believing that it will do its perfect work if given the opportunity. The Lord is counting on us, and the world is depending on us. If we fail let it not be caused by neglect.
God bless each of us as we strive to serve Him faithfully in the coming days. May each of us be more diligent in our witness for Christ than we have ever been before.
In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone