Day 48: Oh, How Corny Is That?

This picture is of a corn field close to my house. Don't worry, I did not take the picture myself, I had Forrest take it on our way to church this evening. This is a common sight around here as we have gone for several weeks without substantial rainfall and over 90 degree temps, even in the 100s.

The crops are parched, the farmers are looking at a reduced harvest and lots of people are grumbling about the weather. This could be painted as a picture of the Christian harvest too. True conversions are very minimal these days. There are those that appear to be converted, but dry out like this corn has. There are some that sprang forth, shooting toward the sky only to get burned by the Sun and wither away. Then there are those that get tangled in the vines and are pulled back by the entrapment. Then there are the true converts, the ones that carry on, knocking away the vines that try to ensnare them, springing forth at a steady pace toward the goal, their roots growing deeply in the Word, their nourishment full and rich.

These are all laid out in Luke 8:4-21 as Jesus tells the parable of the soil types and then explains it to His disciples. This parable is the same today as many are deceived into a false profession, have their faith snuffed out by their friends that ridicule their "decision", some spring forth with as much zeal as anyone only to be disillusioned about the false promises they were told, some even hear the truth of scripture but have the enemy twist it into something they can not understand or distracts them with worries of the world so they do not listen.

But God has promised that His Word does not go out void. If we sow the seeds of His Word, He has promised to bring forth the harvest. He has told us that the harvest is great, but His workers are few. Why is this? It is because His church sleeps and most of the other professing churches are sowing corrupt seeds and reaping a corrupt harvest of false converts who in turn sow more corrupt seed and so on. His church must be awakened and turn back to Him. We have to hold ourselves to the holiness God demands so we can be effective witnesses for Him. We have to repent from our evil ways and turn to Him for the power we need to spread His Word in truth, love and power.