Harvesting Wisdom

Proverbs 10: 4-5

He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. He that gathereth in the summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in the harvest is a son that causeth shame.

I grew up on a farm. It was a small farm. We grew feeder cattle and our own hay. Occasionally a garden. The summer was the busiest time for us on the farm. The seeds that we had planted in the fall and winter had finally grown into mature grass. It was time to harvest the hay. We would get an early start every morning because we had little time to waste. The faster we cut, raked, and baled the hay- the faster we could move off to harvest another field and let the others start growing again. The more hay we could harvest in a season, the more we would have to feed in the winter months. It was good to have as much hay as possible stored, because here in Arkansas no one ever knows what the weather will do. It was also important to get the hay in quickly, because a summer storm could easily ruin a crop as well as a fire. Operations on the family's small farm continue to this day without my brother and I.

Every single day we live contains 86,400 seconds, 1440 minutes, and 24 hours. Every second, every minute, every hour is an opportunity to grow, serve, and to be productive. Generally, may day is spent like this: Wake up at 4:45 a.m., leave for work at 5:30 a.m., and arrive at 7. Work until 11:30 then go to lunch for an hour. Go back to work at 12:30. Finally leave work at 5:30. I get home about 7. Then I eat, what a bit of T.V. and try to be in bed by 8:30 or 9:00. How in the world can I fit any time to grow and serve Christ?! I can use every single second of that day for it. Serving God isn't excluded to Bible study or prayer. How do you use your time?

We, as the body of Christ, need to get on the ball! We are sleeping through the harvest! Sleep is good, but we are given some great words of wisdom concerning sleep and laziness by Solomon. Proverbs 6:6-11

⁶Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:⁷Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,⁸Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.⁹How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?⁰Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:¹¹So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

We need to wake up, get off our tails and get to work while the gettin's good! It is easy to see that laziness can easily lead to destruction. Procrastination is for the birds! This can be applied to many situations. Schoolwork, taxes, bills, Careers, sports, and especially our relationship with CHRIST!!! As the body of Christ, we are procrastinating! ( as a whole) There are Christians who are doing great things for Christ, but many of us are not!

Check out 1 Corinthians 12: ¹²For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.¹³For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. ¹⁴For the body is not one member, but many.¹⁵If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? ¹⁶And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?¹⁸But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.¹⁹And if they were all one member, where were the body?²⁰But now are they many members, yet but one body.²¹And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you ²²Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary ²³And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. ²⁴For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked.²⁵That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.²⁶And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.²⁷Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. ²⁸And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.²⁹Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?³⁰Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? ³¹But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.

In order for our bodies to work efficiently and to get the maximum amount of work accomplished, every part needs to work together. The body of Christ isn't any different. In order to work well as a church, college ministry, or any other type of ministry we must work TOGETHER! Too many times have I witnessed disorder in the church. Paul gives us instruction on how to deal with that: 1 Corinthians 5. We Must Work TOGETHER.

We must remember, that the key to wisdom is not how little we procrastinate, work, or sleep. The key, the most important step can be found in Proverbs 1:7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and knowledge. This fear begins by believing on Christ.

Darkness: Do you let your light shine?

This is how the world is today. DARK. But, there is hope. A light, which the darkness runs from! This spotlight represents Jesus Christ! And as Children of Jesus, we should be too!! But I’m afraid that we aren’t. It is easy to sit back and curse the darkness. It’s easy to be afraid of the dark and the perverse people of this world. But why? Our God is greater than any unreasonable fear we have! Paul was one such man who was not afraid of the dark. We see in Philippians 2: 12-15 that he challenged the darkness. Paul tells us that we are to be ‘blameless and harmless, the sons of GOD, without rebuke, In the midst of a perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.’ We have a mission, charged by God, to shine as lights in a dark world. And as dark as the present day is, that isn’t a very hard thing to do. It’s kind of like today’s economy. Except that the economy is in the red and the dark is black. I hear many people talk about the fact that they are concerned about job security. Money is tight, so people are cutting back costs. They don’t buy as much, so those who have anything to do with sales are suffering. BUT, we always have job security with doing the work that Christ has commanded us to do. Many, many people do not know Christ as their savior, and it is up to US to help them get to know him. I would say that we have a lot of job security.
Last Wednesday night, we talked about seeking approval from the correct people. Obviously, we should seek God’s approval before all others’. And in order to receive his approval, we must gain wisdom. I think that letting our light shine will take us on the path that leads to wisdom. We looked at Proverbs 8: 33-34. Verse 33 tells us to ‘Hear instruction,’ ‘Be wise,’ and ‘Do not refuse it.’ Verse 34 tells us that ‘Blessed is the man that is waiting at the posts of my doors.’ We came to the conclusion that “waiting” does not consist of sitting there waiting for something to happen. If we look at Verse 33 again, it tells us to ‘be wise.’ So if we are wise, we will not only hear the instruction but we will LISTEN and then act upon that instruction. That takes us to the source of a childhood song This Little Light of Mine: Matthew 5: 14-16. This comes directly from Jesus, which for me, multiplies the intensity of this order exponentially.
We*, as children of God, are saved by grace through faith; therefore, we have a duty to God. A HUGE responsibility to uphold: we are commanded to let our light shine and to show the LOST how great, how wonderful, how powerful our God is and what he has to offer to them-ETERNAL SALVATION!! Why do we sit and watch the darkness and curse it? Are we afraid of what others will think? Are we lazy? Are we more concerned with the things of this world? Have we lost sight of what is really important? Are we more interested and focused on TV, Dating, or School? I guess we, as a nation of the saved, have truly forgotten what is really important. Well, we go on “mission trips” to Mexico, Africa, New York, South America, and other exotic places, but we fail to start at home. I’m glad the people who introduced my family to Christ didn’t decide to head over the hottest “mission trip” location and forget about the family that lived down the street or across the road.