This is the reading I did at my church on November 19, 2011. Thought I would share :)
Matthew 9:37
"What a huge harvest! He said to his disciples. How few workers!" ~ Message Remix
For me, I had to read this several times across the week and different versions. I studied it and prayed to God to give me an understanding that I can explain plainly to you. And I must tell you the devil has been busy. However, I pressed on until something came to me. I read Matthew 9:27-38 in the Message and it's titled "Become What You Believe". In these passages of scripture Jesus 1) heals a blind man, 2) heals a man that was unable to speak and 3) teaches us a valuable lesson about being a servant. You see, after doing all these things the pharisees doubted Him and basically spread that He was probably really not responsible for these good works and was probably working with the devil. My my, does these kind of rumors sound familiar to you? But Jesus didn't let any of their lies stop Him from doing God's work. He continued to labor...He went throughout all their cities teaching and reporting the Good News. He continued to heal their sick bodies and heal their hurt lives. And when He saw how great in size the crowd of people, He had compassion and was heart broken at how lost and helpless they were. Then we get our key verse for this occasion: "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few"~ESV. And He told His disciples to pray for more laborers.
So from all this I gathered: The harvest, which is defined by Wikipedia to be "the process of gathering mature crops from fields". The harvest Jesus is talking about is Eternal Life---There's room for everyone and the invitation is there, but there are not enough servants/laborers (us christians) out there in the field (the world) to help gather His people that are lost (the crops). We give up too easily (and speaking to myself too) when people reject us or hurt us, basically when "life" happens to us. But Jesus sets the example for us in these scriptures to keep laboring (keep recruiting His crops).
If you keep reading into Matthew Chapter 10 Jesus gives us instructions on how to be this servant/laborer:
1) You don't have to travel to far off places looking for unbelievers, but rather go to the lost right here where you are. Reach out to them. Start at home...you know the saying: "charity starts at home", right?
2) He tells them you don't have to have alot of resources like money b/c YOU are the resource.
So we as Christians are to reach out to our neighbor. And in case you're wondering who that is, my pastor taught me that my neighbor is whoever is in need. So as for me, serving is reaching out to my coworker who may be a single mother like me, but may be without God as the head of her life, showing compassion and true concern that she learns and accepts Him so that she is able to teach her children good morals. Or the woman at work who locked herself in the bathroom for pain or shame I may never know, but I tried to reach out to her and prayed anyway when she didn't respond. It's about being there for my neighbor when she comes knocking on my door in tears after I've had a long day at work and worries of my own. It's being there to listen to her just b/c that's what she needed at that time. It's encouraging my neighbor that says God let him down b/c his daughter committed suicide four years ago and he doesn't realize it was not God who let him down, but it has been God who has been keeping him and he just still needs more time to heal and use this time for what God may have intended, to help draw him. All these are examples of recent events (most this past week) for me, imagine what a lifetime can do. What a mighty God we serve! We have to boldly share our savior's story with those whom He places in our life at that moment. All we need is that Holy Spirit that's already within us and make a conscious choice to do the work!
For Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world. 1 John 4: 4
God bless
