One of the joys associated with summer is plentiful crops of fresh fruits and vegetables. They remind me of visits with my grandmother, watching her till the soil in the small vegetable garden in her backyard. Everything we ate came straight from her garden. In those days, we didn't know what processed food was because grandma cooked everything from scratch. From her garden, she picked vegetables the moment they were ripe on the vine because as any good farmer knows, when the crops are at their peak, its harvest time.
Grandma's garden provides a nice segue into the harvesting of souls that Jesus talks about in the book of John. Perhaps the most evangelistic book of the four Gospels, John provides a blueprint for leading others to Christ. My personal favorite is the story of the Samaritan woman found in John 4: 4-41. I like Jesus' low keyed approach as he engages the woman in a conversation about which she is concerned and obviously knows a lot about---water. This approach both gets her attention and piques her interest in him. The conversation turns to things spiritual as she begins to ask questions pertaining to the "living water" comment that Jesus makes. But my objective is not to dissect word for word, line by line the actual conversation between Jesus and the woman; but rather to use this story to illustrate how every day encounters and conversations with people can become evangelistic opportunities.
Someone once told me that each day God has a divine appointment (assignment) waiting for us. Jesus alludes to this in John 4:35 ---" You know the saying, 'Four months between planting and harvest.' But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest (NLT)." The will of God for his "then and now" disciples (every Christian) is to finish the work Christ started by harvesting the lost souls that God desires to bring into his Kingdom. They are already waiting, and they are ripe for the picking. We cannot say that we are truly doing God's work if we are not engaged in winning lost souls to Christ, whether through organized evangelistic efforts at church or personal evangelism on our own. Nothing that we do means more to God than this. After all, Christ gave his life that men might be saved. Its our job to take the gospel to them. The Bible says that there is joy in heaven when [even] one sinner repents (Luke 15:10). That's awesome to know that by leading another to Christ we make the angels in heaven rejoice. Its a high calling and a privilege that God reserves only for us. The fields are white already. Its harvest time.
