Harvesting one at a time

"But seeing the crowds, He was moved with compassion on them, because they were tired and scattered like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest that He will send out laborers into His harvest." Matt 9:36-38

I was reading about how fields were harvested in Bible times the other day, and realized how thorough the fields were reaped. First the harvest was accomplished by means of a hand sickle. A meticulous means of insuring that scarcely a stalk of grain is missed. The reaper cuts the grain and gently lays it down and moves forward. Then others would gather and bind the handful into larger bundles. Behind them were the gleaners,usually women. It was their job to pick up any stems or heads of the precious grain that may have eluded the workers before them who needed to work rapidly to complete the harvest. In this way, not a head of grain would be missed. It reminds me of the following scripture. "The doorkeeper opens to him, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." Joh 10:3

Chirst said he will not loose even one of his sheep. "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. "Those that You have given Me I have kept, and none of them is lost",.. Joh 17:12 As workers in his field we can understand how important it is to be a gleaner. How so? Because as we see in John 10:3, Jesus calls his sheep by name. Or we could look at it as, one at a time. Though there are those who would be given the "gift of evangelism" experiencing events similar to the book of Acts. I feel we are given a more individual Gospel. If Jesus allows, for us to help harvest one soul at a time. Taking care in our Lords harvest, to not miss even one.

Many people feel that their work in the Lord, has to be done on a large scale. Reaching as many lives as possible, affecting large groups at once. They base the sucess of their work by numbers, and sadly some even by financial gain. Is this how Jesus feels? "What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them strays, does he not leave the ninety and nine and go into the mountains and seek the straying one?" Mat 18:12

How happy would my Lord be, if even I found just one, head of grain that was missed, one sheep that was lost. For the angels rejoice at just one sinner that repents. Yes one, just one, and we can bring joy to Jesus heart.

"By this we have known the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." (1Jo 3:16)