Archived Daily Manna | Rejoice Fellowship | A mission to release people to rejoice in the world.

Message: We harvest the bounty of Christ throughout our lives, in some senses; but today, we are going to concentrate on the great “final harvest,” the return of Christ to claim His Kingdom and the final return of all souls to dwell with God in eternity. The words of today’s Scripture describing the day of the harvest are “in due time.” We can improve on this a bit by looking at the Greek; the literal expression is kairo idio, “own time.” The Greek word for “own” is idios, which is recognizable as a root of such English words as “idiosyncrasy.” It indicates something that is individual or peculiar to a specific person or thing, and here, it means that the time we will reap the harvest is the time of the harvest itself. The timing is out of our control. We will reap our reward when the harvest comes. When will that be? We don’t know. In fact, Jesus Christ Himself might not know! This last information is absolutely startling, but it is absolutely correct. It comes directly from the gospels, even the shortest of them: “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Mark 13:32) Christ did not know this while alive, and whether or not He knows now is entirely speculative, for He remains subordinate to the Father during the “church age.” (E.g. 1 Cor. 15:38) It is a happy chance that we cite Mark 13 here, because we see that Paul’s admonition not to lose enthusiasm parallels nicely with Christ’s admonition about the last days. “Therefore stay awake — for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning — lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.” Jesus was more metaphorical about this point, where Paul is simply direct, but they are getting at the same substance. temptation in church In practical terms, how easy is it for us to put God at the back of our minds? The temptation assails us every minute of every day. During the deepest moment of prayer in church, our minds try to stray. The world crowds in upon us: at work, watching television, being romantic, going to the doctor . . . we could fill a book with the list of “things that take my mind off of God”! This very problem is one of the roots of monasticism. If we want to work on our spiritual broadening, this is a good place to spend some time and energy — that is, trying to keep God at the forefront of our minds when the world becomes demanding. One strategy that many find successful is to use the natural punctuation points of our day. Saying grace at meals is a perfect example. Before we go to bed. When we wake up, before we get out of bed. So, here is our assignment to put today’s Scripture into action: Find a point during the day where we naturally change activities and resolve to say a short prayer, putting God into the forefront of our thought, before or after. Before is especially easy to remember. Before I hit my first drive when I play golf. Before I first turn on the television or first pick up a novel to read. When I first turn on my computer/iPad/cellphone. Every time I turn off my car in the driveway or garage. “Make God the punctuation points in the story of your day.” Hopefully, if we practice enough, we will also remember God whenever we begin to get angry, or buy something. It is a lifelong quest to find God, at all times and in all places. Remember Christ’s commandment: Stay awake!