This week at GBC we celebrated (a socially distant!) harvest.
On holiday in North Somerset last week we found some space to enjoy the transition into Autumn as the summer greens gave way to the various autumn shades of yellow, orange and some vivid reds (there was also a ton of rain- but let’s not talk about that).
Autumn heralds the season of harvest, a topic that is bursting with meaning in the scriptures.
“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.’” Matt 9:35-38
As you read this passage- what jumps out at me is the title Jesus gave to his Father “The Lord of the Harvest.” And I start to wonder wonder if I’ve allowed God to own this position and title in my own life.
You see the symbolic meaning of harvest in scripture encompasses two main ideas: God’s provision for us, and God’s blessing for others. Though we only celebrate harvest once a year, we nevertheless experience these aspects of harvest all the time.
Every day we earn a wage, we experience harvest. Each time we receive love from our family or friends we experience harvest. Every time we marvel at a work of art or architecture, or gasp at the view, or surreptitiously reach for a tissue during a good movie, we experience a harvest.
Harvest is not something we experience once a year, but on a daily basis. This is why Jesus words are so important. The harvest we experience each day doesn’t belong to us- it belongs to him, because he is the Lord of the harvest, not us. It’s all his and owes its existence to him.
Our jobs,
Our homes,
Our money,
Our abilities,
Our friends and loved ones… all belong to him.
When we recognise that he is the one who gave us hands and intellects and creativity and that as he provides for our family, that he is actually providing for his family, we start to put God in his rightful place in our lives.
What harvests do you experience each day? Have you thanked him as the source of those things that you enjoy? If you do that regularly enough, you will find that that gratitude to God will start to create a generosity of spirit that allows you to freely share those things with others.
– Phil.
