Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
Matthew 9:37-38
Yesterday was a great day! I spent most of the day at home with my beautiful wife and daughter. Being Labor Day, I praised God for the work he has blessed me which he uses as a vehicle of provision for me and my family. I thank God for the education he blessed me with and the opportunity to design spacecraft for a living. It is a challenging job that stimulates my mind, keeps me on my toes creatively, and allows me the opportunity to minister to the people he has placed in my workplace. Too many times I take my job for granted and forget that it is not just a place I go to pay the bills, but it is a place God has placed me for His eternal purposes. While I spend my day “laboring” for wages I need to be mindful that God has called me, and all Christians for that matter, to be soul laborers in the harvest field.
While our daughter was taking her mid-morning nap my wife asked me if I could “Shark” the kitchen floor (in case you are wondering what that means, click here)? “I thought you would never ask,” I responded as tears of joy began to well up in my eyes. My wife knew I was playing at this point and we both began laughing. She then reminded me that after all, “it is Labor Day!” It was a great morning and we got some good cleaning done.
As I thought about Labor Day, Jesus’ words from Matthew 9:37-38 came to my mind. In these verses, Jesus tells His disciples that the harvest is plenty but the laborers are few and to pray that the Lord will send out Laborers into the harvest field. This is a double-edged sword in the sense that if we are not laborers, we won’t obey this command, because our conscience will condemn us. The devil therefore gets two victories: not only does the professing Christian not labor in the harvest fields, but neither does he pray for laborers. On the other hand, the Christian who labors in the harvest fields as Jesus commands will tend to pray more regularly for other laborers to be raised up because they know how important it is and have a similar passion to reach the lost.
This isn’t the spirit in which Labor Day was founded, but it was a great reminder for me. For the first time in my life, I thought of Labor Day as a great day to spend some time going into the harvest fields to proclaim the good news to people. Being a South Bay resident, the city of Hermosa Beach offers a great venue to do just that every Labor Day weekend. Known as Fiesta Hermosa, crowds in the 100,000 range gather to peruse the street vendors, listen to music, drink alcohol and hang out with friends.
So, after sharking the kitchen floor and taking out the trash, I ventured down to Fiesta Hermosa to do a different kind of laboring. My wife and I had been down there Sunday afternoon and I went down again Monday to meet up with some fellow laborers. In less than an hour, I had the opportunity to talk to several people about eternity and was encouraged to hear accounts of people who had trusted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior this Labor Day! The harvest is truly plentiful and I encourage you to make every day a labor day!
In the words of A.W. Pink: “It is true that many are praying for worldwide revival. But it would be more timely, and more scriptural, for prayer to be made to the Lord of the harvest, that He would raise up and thrust forth laborers who would fearlessly and faithfully preach those truths which are calculated to bring about a revival.”
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