Colossians 4:6 teaches us to let our conversations be gracious and attractive so that we will have the right response for everyone. But with all the world news being reported, it’s hard to know for certain who’s truly being honest.
Sometimes in life, it can be a real challenge knowing for sure who’s planting the “good seed,” and who is not. I’m learning to discern more; but, with this discernment, have come many hard lessons learned.
Matthew 13:30 explains that both of these will be evident in the fields: “Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ‘Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn’.”
We mustn’t allow the worries of this life to take root, choking out the seeds of what we know to be the truth. We rely on the news reports, hearing about fake news, or no news at all… It is true, it’s hard to discern, the wheat from the tares.
Don’t Be Fooled
Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. Revelation 1:1 says, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants’ things which must shortly come to pass: and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John.”
Where we’re all being called to prepare for this upcoming harvest, the enemy is causing a slew of distractions. With the confusion taking place, we can become vulnerable to the various attacks around us. The first line of attack may be on our character and integrity, and if he can’t attack you there, he’ll attack you indirectly. The goal is to make you give up, and he will use anyone (who will allow him) to hurt you.
The enemy will use people who think they knew us during a time when there were “unhealthy choices” being made in our lives. They are being used to gossip in hopes to discredit us and to keep us from our path of walking uprightly. It is a scheme to, ultimately, discredit our testimony. What the enemy used to harm you, God is using to teach you and to improve you. What the enemy purposes for evil, God will most certainly use for good.
Harvest: God’s Love Is Abounding
I have written on “confession being a door to forgiveness,” writing a short confessional many years ago, He Called Me to the Ocean. It was an introductory book, a very simple read; but, in many ways, it was a necessary door that I had to walk through. I had to come to terms with the choices, I had made in my own life. I wrote this at a time when I knew that God was calling me back to Him. There were circumstances in my life that I could not deny were “God circumstances” — I heard His call and went forth in faith. I boldly and confidently stepped out of my comfort zone, sharing my own personal stories (of Him).
Through all of my trials, whether they were caused by my own choices or by others, the Lord has always sustained me. I knew that I had much more to learn, and not all were going to be receptive to what I had to say. But no matter what our shortcomings are, Jesus Christ died for our sins. God is gracious and His love is abounding (for us all), and that is enough.
We must consider this truth in the world today. We must make a choice as to which side of the fence, we will choose to stand on. If we are honest with ourselves, we’ve all made mistakes that I’m sure we regret and wish we could undo. The good news is, we don’t have to live in those regrets!
Help for the Harvest
The world is in a season of reckoning, no doubt. Rather than judge your neighbor, we must open up our arms to love them. We must choose to love if only from a distance, showing mercy, forgiveness, and this mutual concern. The truth is, and as 1 Peter 1:22 teaches us, “You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.”
There are many circumstances in life that we’re all going to experience. We are growing and developing, as we choose to endure, taking it one day at a time (with Him). Mistakes are going to be made, and in most cases, they will become these important lessons learned. We can use them to teach others, as God is a God of opportunities, and every day that we live is another opportunity we can learn. He knows that I’m not here to point the finger at anyone else, as none of us should ever cast that first stone.
It is my heart to confess my sins, and it is also a necessary step in our being able to let go of the strongholds that bind us. Humans know when they’re doing something wrong. However, the more we do these things, the more we can become desensitized to them. And like I said before, this is all part of the enemy’s plan to steal, kill, and destroy (us). If we deny what we know (Who we know) to be the Truth in our lives, then the enemy has us right where he wants us.
An Eternity With Him
We know that life here on Earth is no more than a vapor compared to our eternity with Him. I do choose, with what time I have left, to encourage others. I do not need to remind you of your past transgressions. Instead, it is my heart to remind you that His mercies are new every morning, and that He loves you very much (Lamentations 3:22-23).
John 12:24 states, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
Even in death, our lives can bear this fruit; so, let us live out this truth, as we choose, to pick up our cross and follow Him.
Because God does control His field, and what it produces for the harvest!
