Discerning the Signs of the Times

My family came from northern Alabama, and one of my fondest memories growing up was when we would go there to visit relatives a couple times a year. My dad would never just take a leisurely trip, we would always leave at two o’clock in the morning and drive for hours, and then finally stop for gas. If you had anything to take care of, it was best to get it done during that stop because, except for gas and one meal on the way, there was no stopping any place else. He just wanted to get there.

Of course, this was before electronic games and I-Pods to keep the kids occupied in the back seat, and there was no DVD player in the car, so about the only things you could do was to either sleep or look at the scenery along the way. Although I did my fair share of snoozing in the car, I also spent a lot of time looking at the scenery.

Dad was good to point out the shacks out in the fields and teasingly tell me that’s what I was going to live in when I grew up. But also along some of those old country roads, you could see miles and miles of cotton fields. Dad would tell stories about how he had to work in the fields picking cotton when he was young to help support his family. I’m sure it was a hard life, but I had grown up in the city, and I just didn’t quite “get it”.

But the thing that impressed me most was, if we made the trip at just the right time of year, you could look across those fields, and it looked almost like snow, the cotton was so ripe and ready to be harvested. Sometimes you would see heads bob up and down in the fields as people were out there picking the cotton, and if it was a really large farm, you might see big machinery in the field harvesting the cotton. Whichever way he chose to take care of the chore, the farmers knew that when the fields were white, that meant it was time to gather the crops he had been waiting so long for. And not only that, but he also knew that if he waited too long, the beautiful white boles of cotton would rot on the plants, and all his work and investment would be lost.

Now that I’m grown and Dad is long gone to his Heavenly rest, when I remember those trips and those lessons about the harvest, I think of the words that Jesus spoke. In John 4:35 He said, “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” I didn’t realize it at the time, but I learned a few valuable lessons from those trips to visit relatives. Let me share: 

1. I learned that there comes a time that we need to be aware of the urgency of the days in which we live. Jesus said in this verse, “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest?’” I know that we have heard for many years that it must be getting close to the time when Jesus would return. Every generation thought that the world just couldn’t get any worse than it was in their time. They thought surely the coming of the Lord would be soon. But time would go on, and the world has gotten worse…much worse! We have become a very complacent people. In speaking to some of the religious leaders of His day, Jesus had this to say, “Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.” (Matthew 16:1-3) 
2. I learned that in order to know the signs of the times, I need to pay attention. Jesus said, “lift up your eyes and look….” The problem with most Christians today is that they are not paying attention. People get so busy about life, their families, their jobs, their houses, their activities…that they aren’t looking to see the fields. I thought about that cotton farmer…what if he had gone about his business of everyday life and never looked out over his cotton fields? He would have never seen the signs of what time it was. He would not have noticed that it was “cotton pickin’” time and he needed to get busy. I thought about those trips to Alabama, what if I had slept through the whole trip, or what if I had been reading a book or a map and had not looked out at the scenery we were passing? I would have missed it! We would have driven right by and I would never have learned this lesson. (I’m not at all sure my dad would have let that happen) So I believe that we Christians need to start paying attention. The signs are plastered all over the news every day. There has never been a time when tornado destruction has been so devastating. The earthquakes have increased,  there are wars and rumors of wars such as this world has never seen. The whole Middle East seems to have exploded and war threats are everywhere! But what I find is that most Christians are not even aware of the turmoil that is going on right in their own communities, much less what is happening around the world. We MUST lift up our eyes and see the condition of the world we live in.
3. I also learned that we need to look, not only at the signs of the times, but we must look at the fields. Jesus said, “…and look at the fields…” What are the fields? I remember when Jesus was walking on the earth, He said (Matthew 23:37) “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” Oh, how He loves people! If He were walking your city or mine today, how His heart would grieve at the pain He sees people living in. He love your next door neighbor, He loves your family members, He loves your co-workers…and not only that…He loves them so much that He gave His own life that they might be saved. Why do we refuse to tell them? Why do we go on about our lives like there is no heaven to which people in our lives might acquire, or no hell to which they will be assigned? Do we not realize that we have the greatest message ever told? Do we not consider that unless every person we meet receives Jesus Christ, and accepts the price He paid on Calvary for the remission of their sins, they are doomed to eternal damnation? Does that thought not burn in our hearts…the way it did His? There are broken and hurting people everywhere we go, everywhere we look. But are we looking? Are we seeing that the field is already ripe for the harvest?
4. And I learned that if we don’t gather the harvest, soon it will be too late. Jesus told a parable about some servants who were entrusted with their masters funds. 

““For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

“So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

“Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’

“But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

The truth is that one day the Master will return and it will be too late to be concerned with the harvest. And when Jesus does come back, He will require an account of how we served Him on this earth. I didn’t say that, the Bible did! I find that so many Christians seem to think it’s okay to sit and wait for Him to come and “take us away from all this”, but the truth is, one day, we too will face the Judge. He will want a return on the gifts that He gave us. He will want to see fruit from our lives. He will expect that we will have done our best with what He entrusted to our keeping. 

Think about that! Now is the time of the harvest. It’s not “There are still four months and then comes the harvest”. Jesus said “…lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” The field right where you live is ripe for the harvest. You don’t need to go to the mission field to find people who need Jesus. Just look around…right where you are. They are everywhere! They need a Savior! Won’t you be a faithful servant of our Lord Jesus Christ…and share with them the greatest news ever told? You have the answer they are looking for. Won’t you tell them?