Day 4: The Harvest is Plenteous

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." 1 John 4:18

I'm sure you have heard the saying "If you love something, let it go, and if it was meant to be, they will come back to you." What a strange way to view love. This is the worlds way of viewing it, however, and it isn't God's way. John 15:13 says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." and Ephesians 5:25 says "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also love the church, and gave himself for it;". By Biblical definition, true love is sacrificial. It is willing to give up everything in order for the other person to be satisfied and even more so it is willing to connect with someone in such a way that they feel comfortable in helping each other.

We don't need to fear having love for someone because the love of Christ is a sacrificial one. It does not have a "I've done right by you, now you do right by me." mentality. In fact, most Christians can attest to the opposite of this. The more love you show towards someone, the more it hurts when they do something wrong. This is not to say that we are to be afraid to give our all to someone, especially when it means teaching and discipling Christians.

When I was serving as a youth pastor I experienced one of the hardest seasons of my life. People whom I loved dearly, and thought I could trust the most were suddenly lying, backstabbing, and calling me names that were not suppose to come out of the mouths of people in their church position, let alone towards someone whom I thought was my friends and family. After I had left this toxic scenario, it was hard for me to think about how I could ever have the same feelings towards the church or towards people again. I could not fathom myself ever discipling a young Christian thinking they, too, would turn on me.

This is not what love is. We should never fear that others will turn against us. We do not love so that they can do the same. In fact, we (as Christians) are called to love those that hate us and want to hurt us the most. "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;" Matthew 5:44 Don't let the bad seeds of the church ruin it for the harvest. Get the bad seeds out of your life and focus on the rest of the harvest. I guarantee there is more good seed than there is bad. Matthew 9:37-38 "Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest."