September 2005
"THE WORKERS ARE FEW"
Have you noticed the subtle changes taking place around us? The morning traffic is again filled with school buses as the kids settle into a brand new school year. The days are growing shorter; the mornings have become perceptibly cooler – Praise God! Dew has again become a daily menace on the cars (at least mine anyway) – making it difficult to see and the return to defroster-use a necessity.
Soon the leaves will begin to display their fall colors – maybe some will have already changed as you read this. I can hardly wait for those unique miracles that God paints for us over and over every year about this time; the endless array of colors that come alive and blaze forth when touched by the first rays of morning sunlight. Every scene is a masterpiece of color and composition; they take my breath away as I find myself overwhelmed by the work of our magnificent creator. No matter where you look, each view is unique and beautiful in its own right. And each day it’s all just a little bit different. Like the view in a kaleidoscope, it’s there but a moment, and then it’s gone; transformed into a new display of equal splendor. What a marvelous display of God’s creation. When we allow ourselves to take in the grandeur of it all, we can’t help but fall to our knees and praise God. I love that about fall.
Driving home today I noticed that the tomato harvest has begun. Soon the fields will be filled with tractors and combines and trucks as the various fruits of the summer’s labor are gathered in; truckload after truckload. The work to be done seems endless; the hours and days are long and demanding. There never seems to be enough help. I can’t help but think of Jesus’ words in Matthew 9 "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." So much work to be done and so little time. So it is for the kingdom of God. So much work; so many workers are needed. So many all around us suffer with so much pain and loneliness and sorrow. The need is great but the workers are few.
Jesus is calling out to each and every one of us; "if you love me, feed my lambs; care for my sheep." Many in our community are struggling. They are desperately searching for something that can fill the void in their lives – that aching in their souls – but nothing works; not drugs, not alcohol, not "stuff" or anything else they try. They need to be led to the truth of Jesus Christ. They need to see Christ demonstrated in us through our behavior and our compassion for others; both inside and outside the church. They need to know personally that Christ loves them and he does that through his body – that’s us. Yet, how do others see us? Do our lives reflect what we profess to believe? How often do they see us speak one way and then act another? Do they see Jesus when they look at us? If not, why not? Do we profess Jesus as our Lord? Is he real? Or does our true allegiance belong to our jobs, or our stuff, or our selves? Our Christianity is a full time job – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We can never leave our Christian hats at the door; it’s who we are, not what we do.
I would like to leave you with John Wesley’s covenant prayer. Read it over a couple of times and let it speak to you. Use it as a daily devotional prayer for the next month.
"I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low by thee. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Rob
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