Strawberry Festival and witnessing

Luke 10:2 (ESV)

And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

Today was our annual trip to the Strawberry festival in the famous city of Plant City, FL.  Plant City is famous for their strawberries. Basically anywhere around the Central Florida area that sells strawberries you will see a sign that says “Plant City Strawberries.” They’re delicious and grown locally….it doesn’t get better than that.

As you pass the fields you can notice how hard the workers are working.  Hunched over all day in the midst of a hot and CRAZY humid field.

You can imagine how many people would work in the fields if I told you that the pickers got paid $15 an hour, get a break every 30 minutes and all the workers pull equal weight? The truth is, I don’t know anything about how much they get paid. I can almost promise you they don’t get a break every 30 minutes. And we all know that some people are fast and some people are slow at physical labor.

Can you imagine how many people would be Christians if I told you that you wouldn’t have to change how you lived, you didn’t have to pray and if you went to church any time besides Easter and Christmas it is considered working overtime?

We all want to be the one who calls the shots. We would like  to be the supervisor sitting in the air-conditioned office while the hired hands go out and do the hard work. Our hands are soft and callus-free because it has been several harvest seasons since we’ve stepped in the fields and picked strawberries.

Being a Christian is hard work. It is a life of sacrifice and a selflessness. So many times we want to withhold part of ourselves from God. We are okay with giving Him MOST of us, but God doesn’t want most of us, He wants all of us.

We’re not called to be the supervisor, but the workers in the field. Jesus even said that the harvest is abundant and that we’re to help harvest. This is an all hands on deck type mission. You’re either all-in or you’re all-out. Where are you in terms of the field? Are your beads of sweat hitting the dry dirt of a strawberry field? Or are your feet propped up on your desk while others do the work? What have you given to God and what haven’t you? What is stopping you from going all-in?

Dear Lord, help us to be willing to work in the field and not just be a supervisor. Help us to work in the field that is ripe for harvest. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.