Bringing in the Sheaves
Ponder: Harvesting souls for Christ
Scripture: “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few” (Matthew 9:37 NKJV).
My dad was probably one of the last farmers in Colorado to stop using a binder. “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without.” Why buy a baler when you have a perfectly good binder? (Well, functional, anyway.) So, I actually remember “bringing in the sheaves”! After binding them, we leaned the sheaves upon each other to make shocks. Later, we hauled them in to feed or thrash them.
We sing of bringing in the sheaves relative to a harvest of souls in God’s kingdom. The song points out that if we are to bring in any sheaves, we must first sow the seed. Dad used the binder on cane, sudan grass, oats, barley – but never without planting the seed first! (Obvious, huh?) Jesus said, “the seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11). The soil is the human heart, and the harvest, if any, depends on the soil condition. But there can be no harvest unless we sow the seed!
We sing of sowing in the morning, noontide, and evening, sowing in all conditions (sunshine, shadows, clouds, cold breezes). Sowing can be long, hard work; but the end result – the harvest – is worth the effort. Ask any farmer if conditions are always ideal for planting. Neither is there always an ideal time for approaching someone with the gospel. We need to listen to the Nike shoe commercial and “Just do it!”
Not every seed a farmer plants will germinate; and not every person with whom we share the gospel will become a Christian. But unless we spread God’s word far more than we’re doing now, the harvest will be mighty slim!
	Will we come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves? There’s no reason we can’t. But the first order of business is to plant the seed. What say you?
Song: “Are You Sowing the Seed of the Kingdom?”
Prayer: Father, we pray for opportunities to sow the seed of the kingdom, and for courage and strength to use those opportunities when You send them our way. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Joe Slater (Justin, TX)