Gathering Fruit Unto Life Eternal

by G. JARVIE, Insein | Category: General | May 1964

"Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest. He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal" (John 4.85-86).

In Habbakuk 2.18 we read that "the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity". What a concise summary of human activity, and how true this is today! In contrast, God has given us work to do, the fruit of which will last for eternity. Our labour is not vain in the Lord. The Lord commands us to lift up our eyes and look on the fields. Not on one field only, but on the fields. Happy are we when we can forget our own things, our own comforts and our own prospects in life, so that with hearts set free we can lift up our eyes and look. If our hearts are burdened about our own things, then it is unlikely that we will ever see fields white unto harvest. So, first of all, we should kneel down, committing all to God, and ask Him to give us a vision, to lift up our eyes and look on the fields.

As we look, what do we see? We see many of our fellow-men and women, some of them are so poor that life is a continual struggle, and, sad to say, a struggle which ends in death. Others again are rich, surfeited with pleasure and vanity. The great majority of them are without God and without hope. But whether rich or poor, whether literate or illiterate, all are souls whom Christ came to save, and will save if only they will turn to Him. So with grace to forget our own things we look out and see the fields, white unto harvest.

The next thing is to go forth. We cannot expect to reap much in the comfort of our own homes. It is not thus that souls are won. It is true that there is a ministry of the pen, but ultimately we reach the people only where they are. This is true, even as for one working in one's own country. But the vast numbers of our fellow-men live far in other lands, and some must go further out to reach them. We must not be discouraged, nor feel that the world is gospel-hardened. Some will refuse the message, we know, but others will accept it. Some will be reached, and, oh, the joy of reaching them!

The further out we go, the more we shall see. There is no end to the vast number who need Christ. They stretch out before our eyes, like a great prairie harvest, as far as the eye can see. Surely we cannot be content to labour always in a small area, when for many miles are the multitudes who have never heard the glad tidings, and may never hear it unless we go to them. Men of the world will labour for the fire and weary themselves for vanity, but let us not do so. Let us give ourselves to this great work, gathering fruit unto life eternal. Let us not be anxious, whether or not we shall succeed. If we go and preach the word faithfully, praying over it, then some will be saved, some fruit will be reaped for eternity.

The night will come when our work must cease (John 9. 4). Already the shades of night are falling. It is not so easy for preachers to enter some lands as it once was, and some cannot be entered at all.

But the daylight still lingers in some lands, and the harvest is waving before us. Let us lift up our eyes and look.

The day of the ingathering will come. What a day that will be! The sowers and the reapers will be there rejoicing together. None taking the glory to himself, but all with one accord will give thanks to Him who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb.

This will be the harvest! From obscure villages they will come, and some from jails and hospitals. Some who were lepers and outcasts will be there, probably far more than we ever imagined. Some who had read a tract or a gospel will be there, and some who were illiterate, but heard them read by others. They believed the message and were saved. They also will be before the throne. What will the reward be for those who have sowed and reaped, and also for those who have prayed. Who can say? but it will be worthy of the Lord of the harvest.

So then, while the peoples labour for the fire and the nations weary themselves for vanity, let us lift up our eyes and look, and then let us go forth to reap in the fields that are white unto harvest, and gather fruit unto life eternal. Let us keep in mind the day when sower and reaper shall rejoice together, when all with one accord shall give glory to Him who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb.

G. JARVIE, Insein | May 1964
General