Ripening for Harvest Newsletter - 26th July 2010
When we are at work and we have a boss, it is quite usual for that person to give us our tasks for the day, and advise us what needs to be done next for the smooth running of the firm or company. We often have to sign a contract that we will work to the company’s requirements. It would be unheard of for an individual to make his or her own decisions and do another job that day. We cannot see the large scheme of things. The boss sees and knows our talents and how we can fit in the overall plan of action.
In the same way - “In the upbuilding of His work the Lord does not always make everything plain before His servants.”
We are quite familiar with being a servant at work, but when we work with Jesus we often lose all sense of that Master/servant dependency and start planning on our own. We forget that when we are baptised it is like joining the firm of the Lord and He is our supervisor. He has His plans for us - not our plans for Him!
It is so easy for us to get up in the morning and have our devotions and then think ‘I will ring this person’ and then ‘that other person would be cheered up by a card’, and we make lists and begin running to get all the tasks done. If we stop to think though and we are honest with ourselves, these are tasks that we have set ourselves, and then we feel that we are doing God’s work.
God has left us in charge of His goods in His absence. Each steward has his own special work to do for the advancement of God's kingdom. No one is excused. The Lord bids us all, "Occupy till I come." By His own wisdom He has given us direction for the use of His gifts. The talents of speech, memory, influence, property, are to accumulate for the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom. He will bless the right use of His gifts.
Faith acts in a different way. Faith sees Jesus in heaven in the sanctuary with His eyes over all the earth, ready to guide and direct His servants so that the great and complex work of the Gospel all moves smoothly. His hand is on the wheel of the affairs of the last warning to go to the world. In faith we bow before Him with reverence and place ourselves at His disposal, then help each other.
If we pray with the willing heart of a faithful servant, ‘Lord and Master, show me what it is that you would like me to do for you in the cause of the Gospel today’, He will look at your talents and your experience and place you just where He needs you most. It is not being busy for the Lord that is the most valid service you can give, it is doing what He has chosen for you to do. He wants your cheerful and intelligent working in the vineyard and as soon as you look to Him in prayer He will respond. It is an exciting way to ripen for harvest. It brings you into a living exchange with God.
What God really needs from time to time is a minute man or woman that He can trust. If He sees an emergency situation building up He needs a trusted servant to whom He can give a quick order and know that that person has the insight to respond and has talents that are sufficiently developed to do the task. In fact in everything that we do with God, He is training us for just those times. Are we so in tune with our Master that we can think His thoughts, and act or speak, without hesitation, not counting the cost - just as if Jesus Christ Himself were on earth. Are you that kind of servant yet?
We are to stand as minute men, ready for service at a moment's notice.