June 16 - Working Until Sunset

Ruth 2:16-17

"Also you shall purposely pull out for her some grain from the bundles and leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her." So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.

Farmers typically work in the summer time, especially at harvest time, from sunrise to sunset. My Dad would put in long hours when he was farming. Farmers these days even have bright spotlights on their combines that allow crews to work into the night harvesting their precious crops at their peak. The combines separate the head of grain from the stock, the kernel from the chaff, and then all the grain flows from the hopper to the waiting grain truck as the combine goes across the field. So fast and clean. Ruth harvested an ephah of barley, which is about two-thirds of a bushel. Average yield of barley is now about 67 bushels per acre.

Jesus called His followers to “harvest” for Him in Luke 10:1-12 and as His followers, He calls us to do the same. You may ask, as I have for years, where is this harvest field? The interim pastor at my church recently answered just that question—the unchurched in apartments, condos, gyms, and coffee shops are that field ready for harvest. Well—that is where the seeds of the gospel need to be planted—then comes the harvest. Do you know anyone around you who has never heard about Jesus? What can you tell them? Tell them about how Jesus has made a difference in your life—how He has changed you. For me the biggest change was in taking away my sarcastic tongue and attitude. It made such a difference in my personality and gave me a peace about myself. Having a relationship with Jesus improved my relationships with pretty much everyone around me, maybe not immediately, but it did happen. I’d consider that a miracle.

Do you need a miracle relationship adjustment in your life? Well, Jesus didn’t promise to immediately make our lives perfect—but He has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us and His presence as the Holy Spirit in our lives will change our hearts and thoughts. He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, from Titus 3:5. This is similar to the need for continual renewal of our minds that I mentioned on May 31 from Romans 12:2. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. As our minds are “renewed” and we begin to think more like Christ, then we become more loving and our relationships gain the benefit of that agape, Christ-like unconditional love.  That renewal is a spiritual feast that you don’t have to work until sunset to obtain—just ask.

Lord, please give us hope in our relationship with You and with others that we these bonds would be stronger and that others would feel Your love for them through us. Renew our minds and hearts, filling us with Your love.

© 2012 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.