He who gathers in summer is a son who acts wisely,
But he who sleeps in harvest is a son who acts shamefully.
Proverbs 10:5
As I right this the temperature outside is a balmy 25 degrees. It definitely does not appear to be “summer” at all… however it indeed is the season of summer. We’ll get to that point in a moment. First let’s take a look at Proverbs 10:4
Poor is he who works with a negligent hand,
But the hand of the diligent makes rich.
The Hebrew word for negligent here in this verse can also be translated as deceitful. As I pondered Proverbs 10:4-5 together, my mind went to our present day. We live in a day where the goal is to look as busy as possible with as little work and effort as possible. You can see this in our current ad campaigns all over television and the internet. It reminds me a lot of a scene in Tom Sawyer…
Tom is able to use deceit to get everyone else to do the work for him, yet he is going to take all the credit. He is taking advantage of others. As I continued to ponder this verse it reminded me of a commercial where a mother walks out of the kitchen holding a pie or some type of dessert, before she walks out, she throws flour all over her face and then walks out the door breathless, putting on the air that she has been slaving away in the kitchen, when in fact it was prepared for her, she just heated it up. When her family applauded her “hard work” she willingly took credit. We also have these commercials, where a certain company attempts to convince us that we don’t actually have to clean our house, or car, or belongings, we just need to sprit and spray their aromatic product on it and it will give off the impression that it is clean and fresh.
Yeh, right.
As little of work as possible, yet making it appear as though we have done much.
Sadly not only is this sentiment prevalent in our current American society… it is prevalent in our American churches… and in our everyday lives. Satan has done a wonderful job of keeping us very busy doing lots of things that have absolutely no eternal value. Just like Tom Sawyer above, he has us doing his work and we don’t even realize it… yet in the end he will get the credit.
How many times have you found yourself running around crazy doing things that appear so important, but in light of eternity it’s just busy work. There was one thing in public school that I despised, busy work, it was meant to do nothing but keep you in that room and to keep you quiet. It held no educational value, was not even relevant to the subject of the class, it was not adding to your knowledge, it was not equipping you for anything. It was just keeping you there. It was designed to consume your time. That’s it. My favorite part was when you handed it in to the teacher as you exited the class, they didn’t even look at it, just tossed it straight into the trash.
What breaks my heart, is that I fear Satan has a lot of believers… and blinded unbelievers… consumed with “busy work”.
each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
1 Corinthians 3:13-14
We can be busy little worker bees for Satan himself and just like the line of kids painting Tom Sawyer’s fence we have been deceived into thinking this is the right, good, and profitable thing to do… but it’s nothing but wood, hay and straw. It makes it look like we have been slaving away to others, and we gladly put out to the world how “hard” we are working, and how much we are doing, but in reality we have missed the opportunity to do the real work, because it would require more of us than we are really willing to give. It is easier to look busy doing our idea of God’s work. It’s easier to make the Father’s house a place of business than it is to actually submit to the will of God and be busy about the Father’s business.
I fear we have forgotten that it is summer. I fear that we have found ourselves asleep, worn out from work we were never meant to do, and the harvest is suffering because of it.
He who gathers in summer is a son who acts wisely,
But he who sleeps in harvest is a son who acts shamefully.
Proverbs 10:5
I fear that we have forgotten that God is not impressed by the sweat of our brow, but by the submission of our hearts.
We need to wake up… for it is summer. Why do I say that when it’s currently this “chilly” outside? Let’s take a look at the calendar that God laid out for us when He brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. The Feasts of Israel have always represented God’s plan of the ages… representing the death of Christ, His resurrection, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the day our Lord returns. As you look at the chart below notice that these feasts occur in two seasons, Spring and Fall…
and what season occurs between Spring and Fall? Summer. As we look at this chart, we know that Pentecost has come (Acts 2:1-4). Spring has come and gone. Yet, that trumpet (Matthew 24:31, 1 Corinthians 15:52, 1 Thessalonians 4:16) has yet to sound that Fall has arrived. Therefore beloved, that means it is indeed Summer.
It is the day to be gathering!
Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
Matthew 9:35-38
Do you even see the people?
In this electronic age, have we forgotten how to see?
There are times I have looked around my own living room and taken a picture just like one of these… oh we look so busy, busy, busy…
About a month ago I went to a restaurant to pick up a to go order. As I was driving off with my food there was an older woman with a cardboard sign that said something about being hungry and needing money… I never have cash on me, never. Therefore, I drove on past, but as I did, the Spirit quickened me to the food that I had in the passenger seat beside me… so I turned around at the light and drove back to where the woman was and rolled down my window. I told her I did not have any money but I had some food and I handed her one of the to go meals out of my window. As I looked her in the eye, and she reached for my food, she said, “I am not doing this because I want to” I just looked her in the eyes again and told her, Ma’am I know…
Jesus didn’t just help the people that he thought really deserved it and would amount to something if they just had a hand… he just saw the people and had compassion on them. He didn’t wonder if they were working the circuit or taking advantage of Him… my goodness think about it, WE ALL ARE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF HIM.
Now granted Jesus had the upper hand of seeing into the hearts of others… we don’t have that… but what we do have is the gospel and the example of our Lord and the knowledge that He sees into our hearts.
How often do we not give, do we choose not to see, because we have come to our own conclusions of what they are “really up to”.
How many times do you find yourself rolling your eyes and saying, “ugh, I hate people”
Take a moment and evaluate the “ministries” of your church and your own personal ministries… (yes, if you are believer, if you are saved and redeemed, then you are filled with the Spirit, and you are supposed to be in the business of ministry). My husband’s job doesn’t allow him to teach a Sunday school class or to be over the men’s ministry, or even to volunteer often at an off campus ministry, but you would not believe the men he has the opportunity to “minister” to at work because he doesn’t hide or downplay his faith and he prays daily for God to open up doors for him to do just that… and when the opportunity presents itself, he takes it. Preaching the gospel is more than just leading someone in the ABC’s… it’s leading other to the Light by being the light. My husband, no doubt, is a minister of the gospel, though his past would never allow that official title inside the church building.
Do you just play it safe and stay busy, busy, busy, “ministering” to your private little comfortable circle? It’s easy to be busy and appear to be working hard while keeping it in your own pre-selected holy huddle… but what happens when a stranger tries to step in?
Beloved, let us wake up. It’s Summer. It’s time to gather. Let us not miss the opportunity to be a part of the harvest because we are sleeping, because we don’t want to see, or because it looks like work… Don’t let us fall prey to the Tom Sawyer’s. Let us not allow Satan to convince us that we are working hard for God, when in fact we are just consumed with busy work, aka dead works (Hebrews 6:1-2).
It’s something I am always having to ask myself…
I find myself every several years having to step back and say, Okay, God am I working to build my kingdom or Yours?