Days Like This

First, there was that scared mother expressing concern with her teenager’s choice to have unprotected relations with a boyfriend. Just before lunch was more about a couple diving deeper and deeper into an unbiblical union. Then the evening opened with a young single alluding to childhood trauma she has yet to process.

Days like this get to me sometimes.

Maybe you are the bystander or confidant hearing this, seeing this, feeling this. Or perhaps you are the mother, the partner, or the victim living this. Either way, this awareness is not benign.

Many thoughts come to mind: “What is the world coming to?” “But, why though . . .?” and “How sad is that!?” are my top three.

Then, amongst the thoughts come this scripture: “The Harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:37).

It’s days like this that God reminds me that He did not place us on this Earth to sit around and just be idle, cute, comfortable, and cozy. We were created to be His disciples and to “. . . go and make disciples . . .” (Matthew 28:19a).

Making disciples is important because it is the method God chose to combat the bad news as we spread the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ. One characteristic of a disciple is one who shares Christ’s burden for the lost souls of men and women.

When the bad news seems to outweigh the good news in our lives or when we begin to see, hear, and feel the burden of others heavy on our hearts, may it be a reminder to “ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field” (Matthew 9:38). And may we be willing ourselves to go as His disciples and make disciples.

I believe days like this come to let us know it is indeed harvest season. Not just because of the turkey, dressing, ham, and collard greens. Not just because of the retail sales, family visits, and days off work. While all of that is great, that type of harvest season is just that: a season.

Let’s be about the Harvest our Lord speaks of in His Word. The mother, the teenager, the partner, the single—WE all need this. Not just for a day, a weekend, or a season. This plentiful pasture has a lifetime of opportunities.

May days like this keep us, not down or depressed, not hopeless or sad, but mindful of and motivated to fulfill our call to “go . . .” and spread the Good News of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, as the Way and the Truth, as the Life and the Light, as the creator of ALL, . . . yes, ALL—including days like this.