Fields White Already To Harvest

Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. (John 4:35)

In the book of John chapter 4, Jesus met a Samaritan woman at a well in Sychar. By showing her that He knew of her past, He was able to convince her that He was the Christ, the Anointed of God (John 4:29). The Samaritan woman then made her way to the city to tell her that she had met the Christ, and the people in the city made their way out of the city and came to Jesus (John 4:30).

At this time of the year, the time of the grain harvest was still four months away, and the grain had not ripened (not turned “white” yet). Yet, Jesus told His disciples in John 4:35 that they needed to look up and see the figurative “fields” that were ready to be harvested – the souls coming out of the city that needed to hear about the Christ, and render obedience to God.

In just under seven weeks’ time, from 27 to 29 November, there will be a gospel meeting held at 20 Lim Ah Pin Road. The theme is “Are You Sure?”, and our three guest speakers will present messages from the Bible to show that we can be confident about salvation and our eternal destiny.

Yet, although the gospel meeting is still weeks away, there are “fields white already to harvest” – there are souls out there right now searching for answers, searching for God, searching for TRUTH. Who knows if we can be the conduit through whom a family member, friend, colleague, etc. can come to know about the gospel meeting, attend it, and subsequently hear and believe the word of God?

With that in mind, here are three things I would like to encourage all of us brethren to try doing as we prepare for the gospel meeting which is going to be held from 27 to 29 November.

#1 – Attend the gospel meeting.

Why should we expect a visitor to attend, if the members themselves are not making time to do so? Your attendance signals to the speaker and our visitors that you also believe the preaching of God’s word is important. Through your attendance, you also benefit from listening to the gospel message – there is always room to reinforce your knowledge of the Bible and be convicted by it.

#2 – Support the tracting session.

Before the gospel meeting, we will make plans to go into the surrounding neighborhood to distribute leaflets, containing the location of the church building and the gospel meeting topics. It is true that many of these tracts will end up unread and discarded by our neighbors. But it is also true that there are individuals in the community about us searching for truth – and who knows if this tract makes them aware of the existence of a congregation of the Lord’s church near them?

#3 – Invite a family member, friend, colleague, etc.

It can seem intimidating to invite someone, because the thought of being rejected can make us anxious. But let us flip this thought around – since we have the knowledge of salvation, would not we want our family and friends to know about it too? Start by inviting “just one” – and if everyone were able to bring “just one”, what an incredibly huge field that would be, white and ready to be harvested!

God bless each and everyone of us as we seek to expand the borders and reach of His Kingdom daily.

Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. (John 4:35-36)