A Spiritual Harvest

At our Harvest Thanksgiving service, we must note the difference between our need and our greed. God provides for our need, but not for our greed. We think of God's provision for our material need, but we not forget his provision for our material need, but we must not forget his provision for our spiritual need. In the harvest, we see God's loving kindness towards us. He answers our prayer: "Give us, this day, our daily bread." In the gospel, we see God's loving kindness towards us. The gospel is love in action. God sees our need, and he provides for us, a Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Christ, God produces, in us, a spiritual harvest - "the fruit of the Spirit."

How is this spiritual harvest produced in us? - “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:23-24). Before we can have life, new life, eternal life, Jesus must die. He must sacrifice himself for our salvation - "I have come to do your will, O God" (Hebrews 10:7,9). This is the will of God - Christ's sacrifice, our salvation.

We are saved through Christ's sacrifice of himself for us. Once we have been saved by Christ, we are to sacrifice our own will to the will of God: "Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life" (John 12:25). We are to sacrifice our own will to the will of God, by following Christ: "Whoever serves me must follow me ... My Father will honour the one who serves me" (John 12:26).  

How do we learn to serve the Lord? We get to know Him through reading His Word. We grow in our love for him as we learn how much he loves us. We look at Jesus. we learn from his earthly life, but we don't stop there. We look on to his death on the cross for us. We look on to his death on the cross for us. We learn that he "came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). His love reaches us. His love changes us - and there becomes less trying to get our own way and more walking in his way.

As we turn to Jesus Christ, crucified for us, we are called out of our sinful past and unto his holy future. We are called as sinners, called to receive salvation.We are called to be saints, called to be holy, called to life of love, called to reap a spiritual harvest. There will be two parts to this harvest. In our own lives, there will be "the fruit of the Spirit" (Galatians 5:22-23). There will, also, be the fruit in the lives of others to whom we bring the love of Christ.