Reconciliation Ministries
Corn Flakes And The Harvest
Greetings dearly beloved of the Lord,
I had felt a need to spend some time alone with the Lord and so I headed to my study to
read His Word. A little later on there was a knock on the door... "Come in...."
Seven year old Noah appeared smiling, dressed in his soccer uniform ready for his game [He
had been dressed about four hours before his game!]
PASS THE CORNFLAKES!
"What are you doing dad?" he asked as he came and sat beside me. I told him I
was reading...[My Bible] that I needed to FEED my soul as I had a need ... straight away
he replied, "WHY DON'T YOU EAT SOME CORNFLAKES?"... It was hard not to burst out
laughing at his take of my expressed "hunger." I shared with him it was not a
PHYSICAL hunger which food alone could satisfy but an internal Hunger that Only God could
satisfy and His Word is a means to doing so...
TWO HUNGERS CONTRASTED
As he left the room the passage in John 4:31-38 came to mind...where the disciples went to
get some food and coming back found Jesus speaking to the woman in Samaria... they urged
Him to eat "But He said to them" I have FOOD to eat that YOU DO NOT KNOW
ABOUT." The disciples were saying to one another "No one brought Him anything to
eat did he?" – Verse 33. They were wondering where did He get food from.
Jesus said to them, "My FOOD is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish
His Work. Do you not say there are four months, and THEN comes the harvest? Behold I say
to you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest."
TEMPORAL OVER THE SPIRITUAL
How often like little Noah or the Disciples we tend to look on the physical and temporal
to the exclusion of the Spiritual. We misunderstand and misdiagnose a persons need
assuming something temporal or "practical" is the Answer. In the case of the
disciples- they were thinking "food" while Jesus as thinking "the will of
My father" and the souls of men. While they were concerned about the physical [Which
is not wrong in itself as if we don't eat we die!]. But the Lord Jesus, the Perfect Man
was concerned about His Father's Business and indeed that is why John 4:4 said, "He
HAD TO go through Samaria." Samaritans were despised by the Jews, but NOT by the
Lord.
SEVERAL THINGS TO PONDER
1. Is there a group of people or persons that you Keep away from. Trusting someone else to
"share" the Good News with. I know at Christmas there is always a great rush of
volunteers to help at handing out dinners at the homeless shelter and at
"Thanksgiving." Yet the "good deed" done, we go back to our homes and
churches "snug and even some times "proud" of our "good deed",
and the rest of the year, we do not go near those "Samaritans"
2. The Spiritual Hunger God creates in you, where do you try and fill it? At the
refrigerator? At the Store, shopping? Materially gathering of things?
3. Are you about the Father's Business? The fields are white, which speaks of the harvest
being ready...right where you live and work... God has placed you perhaps with some people
who drive you nuts...[You and I may just be getting a glimpse of our own sinful attitudes
that these people are but tools to bring to the surface of our lives to be exposed,
repented of.] Is your desire for the Glory of God and the souls of men greater than the
desire for temporal and personal satisfaction or relief?
4. "There are YET Four months and THEN Comes the Harvest." Jesus said to them.
The point being, when you sow the seed as a farmer, it takes TIME for it to Germinate and
Sprout. So in between you can do other things. But the Lord Jesus said to them the TIME
for Harvesting is PRESENT TENSE... NOW!!! The Bible says "Today is the day of
Salvation...." Now is the time of Opportunity. Ephesians 5: 15 says "be careful
how you live, not as unwise
men, but as wise, redeeming the TIME..." The Psalmist said "teach me to number
my days...".
There are People God brings into our Lives, whether it is stopping to help someone change
a tire whom we may never see again... whether its a mom who shops at the same store and
continues to have the same cashier... or business associates.... school mates... Ask God
who you can share with and How to "fish for the souls of men" He says as you
"Follow Me, I WILL make you fishers of men." The master Fisherman and teacher is
only too willing to teach those who follow...
5. Self Occupation and absorption is often a source of great discouragement and
depression. It is when we get involved in the lives of others and "give
ourselves" to the preferring and promoting of the needs of others that we often
experience the greatest blessing- 2 Corinthians 4:5
WHAT TIME IS IT IN YOUR LIFE?
How often like the disciples we like to say, there is TIME to get to the Business of the
Father ... there is plenty of TIME ... and we pursue comfort of food, materialistic things
with a vigor, enthusiasms, and zeal that we do not often have for God and His Harvest.
Once while on a youth retreat a man , who was a camp counselor pulled some cash from his
pocket and said this is what he lived for... how sad.. yet often how true... we get
sidetracked by the temporal pursuits, don't we?
Paul said to the church at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 15:34, "Become sober minded as you
ought, stop sinning; for Some have no knowledge of God, I speak this to YOUR Shame."
In Haggai 1, the people had been commissioned to do a work for God. Years later it was not
done, they to said it was not TIME, yet they had TIME to gather, accumulate and pursue
personal gain, and the comforts of their home. It was then God said to the prophet to
speak and say to them..."Consider your Ways... Consider your ways... Consider your
ways...."
Little did I know when Little Noah walked in responded to go eat some cornflakes, how the
Lord would use that for me to be reminded afresh and anew ... my ultimate need is Him...
He feeds me through His Word, 1Peter 2:2, He encourages me by His Spirit through His
Word-Romans 15:4-5 and I am to Hold forth His Word which is the Word of Life- Philippians
2:16..."so that in the day of Christ, I may have cause to glory because I did not run
in vain or toil in vain." This verse says it is possible for a Christian to "Run
in VAIN and to Toil in VAIN."
We are all running and toiling but is it in Vain from Gods Perspective?
ATTITUDE CHECK
A. - What way am I Fulfilling the Great Commission in the part of the Harvest field God
has presently Planted me in?
B. - Am I "laboring" in Prayer as Epaphroditus in Colossians 4:12.
C. - Am I doing "all things for the sake of the Gospel" as Paul spoke of in 1
Corinthians 9:23?
D. - Am I Complaining about unwanted circumstances or Proclaiming the Lord Jesus,
Liberator of Men." -Phil 1:12
A COMPELLING HEART
Jesus HAD TO go through Samaria...He was Compelled Inwardly by the Spirit of God to be
about the Father's Business... What is it that Compels you to Do?
Over the years I have met Professional Athletes from all sports, yesterday I was thinking
of some of them ... they travel on road trips, flying and getting into strange hotel rooms
at all hours of the night, these men sacrifice, TIME, Energy and indeed FAMILIES as they
so often spend so much time on the road...but for What and more importantly for WHOM? Self
or the Savior and the Souls of men, or for Money?
Indeed God has His servants everywhere... but are they and we toiling in VAIN or are we
Compelled for the Glory of God and the salvation of men's souls... Will it be Pass the
Cornflakes or is it TIME to take Inventory and see are you and I about the Fathers
Business... Jesus’ "Food" that Sustained and Nourished Him was the Glory,
Honor of His Father being made known and His Kingdom coming in the lives of men... Is that
what sustains you or I today... or like Hague, need we too "Consider your
ways..."
God help us to PRIORITIZE our Lives to Be about the Father’s Business.
You are Loved, You are His, You are An Ambassador of the Living God-Represent Him well, I
am praying for you as I write, to Focus on the Will of the Father as Supreme where you
are.... Hebrews 12:2 says "Lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily
entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us Fixing our eyes
on Jesus...".
There is Physical Hunger which God has given us and it is good when that can be met ...
But oh, dearly beloved there is a Spiritual Hunger that the Son of God demonstrates which
He desires once again to seek and save men though you and I in His Harvest. Is it time to
repent, as a church as an individual of or lack of love for Him, our lack of Concern for
His business, our lack of concern for the Eternal souls of those around us. Is it time to
repent of our love and consumption for the material rather than the coming of the Kingdom
in the hearts of men?
Love is the Issue
Paul said the "Love of Christ COMPELS me..."- 2 Corinthians 5:14...
"Jesus asked Peter "Do you love Me more than these?"... There are always
Competing affections for us.... the world and the flesh and the devil always trying to
sidetrack us from the Father's Business
To the church in Ephesus... he told them they had "left their First Love." When
First Love is chosen to be relegated and replaced, the Love of Christ for lost souls will
also be relegated and displaced by something of the Temporal.
WHICH WORLD
John Wesley was walking in the garden of a wealthy friend once. His friend said to Wesley
"ALL THIS you could have had!" To which Wesley replied "Oh, but there is
another world!" Indeed there is and one chose to invest and toiled for this while
Wesley chose to invest his life for the World to Come... Which world are you investing in?
You are loved. Pray I too would not be sidetracked but would be about my Father's
Business.
In His Love,
Aidan for Cindee and children
Back to Reconciliation Ministries Home Page