Waiting for the harvest

First the blade, then the head, after that the full grain . . . The harvest has come. — Mark 4:28-29

In the book What’s Gone Wrong With the Harvest? James Engel and Wilbert Norton illustrate on a graph how people often go through a series of preconver-sion stages before stepping over the line of faith and receiving Jesus as their Savior.

When we hear individuals share their conversion experience, we may conclude that faith happened all at once. But their salvation frequently carries an extended backstory of spiritual pilgrimage before they made that decision. They needed time to reflect on the gospel. For them, coming to the Savior was a process.

This is similar to the process of farming: Months of waiting come to an end and workers stream into the fields to help with the harvest. One of our Lord’s parables illustrates how faith — like a crop — needs time to develop. Responding to the gospel is like a seed that grows “first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain,” until finally, “the harvest has come” (Mark 4:28-29).

Because people may need time and multiple exposures to the gospel before they are ready to make a decision, we need to be sensitive to where they are in their faith-journey. In the meantime, we can cultivate spiritual interest, pray for them, and wait for the harvest! — Dennis Fisher

Have you thought of where you’re going,

When this earthly life is past,

Will the seed that you are sowing,

Bring a harvest that will last? — Jacobson

READ: Mark 4:26-29

We sow the seed — God produces the harvest.

The Bible in one year:

• Numbers 7-8

• Mark 4:21-41