The harvest is plentiful

Daily Readings: Genesis 25-26, Psalm 11, Matthew 9

“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’”

-Matthew 9:35-38

When we look at the world today, the words of Jesus ring as true as they have ever been. “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”

I am extremely passionate about the power of Christians who view the marketplace as their mission field. So many Christians who feel that tug on their heart to spread the gospel end up ministering to the poor, working with youth from the college age on down, going into prisons, or even going overseas. These are AMAZING callings! The need is so obvious and the ability to make an impact so great.

However, if you are just working an average job, with a seemingly average family, and don’t have an obvious pain point in your life; not a lot of folks look at you and say, “The harvest is plentiful. There is someone who needs Jesus!” We tend to want to minister to folks who are already struggling in an obvious way.

Here is thing, we all struggle! When you walk into the hospital, school, office, construction site, etc. for work, there are so many people who desperately need Jesus. Someone has a marriage that is about to fall apart even though it might look great on the surface, someone struggles with alcoholism and you might never know it, someone surprising is addicted to porn, someone just lost a loved one but isn’t really talking about it, someone is frantically trying to stay afloat financially because they bit off more than they could chew when times were a little better, etc. Everyone has battles they are fighting.

The harvest is plentiful but the workers in everyday life are VERY few.

To be a marketplace missionary means having your radar up the entire day. It means living out your life in a way that points others to the love of Christ. It means being present throughout the day and not constantly distracted so that you don’t miss opportunities to minister to someone that desperately needs it. It means forming genuine relationships with your coworkers so that they know you are a safe person to talk to if they need someone to lean on. It means being willing to be vulnerable about your own struggles so that others are willing, in turn, to be vulnerable with you as well.

You will be amazed what God does in you and through you once you allow him to be present throughout your entire day instead of just during your “Jesus time”. He wants us to be “out in the fields” our whole lives, in whatever profession we are in, and not just when volunteering, teaching Sunday school, or doing a monthly outreach activity.

I think you will find that this shift in mindset is not some additional burden on your day or an extra duty to attend to. Rather, it makes the entire day more meaningful and your days will be filled with a much greater degree of peace, thankfulness, and inspiration.

The harvest is plentiful. Let’s go work.

Thought to ponder

What gets in my way on a daily basis from being able to truly observe the harvest that God wants me to reap for his Kingdom in my everyday work?