Vital signs- Thursday, September 2nd, 2021
Stay in the Field
William Carey, often called the father of modern missions, arrived in India in 1793 with a burden to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who had never heard Jesus' name. For seven years he proclaimed the gospel message faithfully week after week, month after month, with not a single native of India converted to Christ. Carey could have allowed himself to return home defeated and empty-handed.
But he had faith that God would bring the harvest. To his sister back home in England, Carey wrote, "I feel as a farmer does about his crop: sometimes I think the seed is springing, and thus I hope; a little blasts all, and my hopes are gone like a cloud. They were only weeds which appeared; or if a little corn sprung up, it quickly dies, being either choked with weeds, or parched up by the sun of persecution. Yet I still hope in God, and will go forth in His strength, and make mention of His righteousness, even of His only."
Carey established one of the great missionary works in all of history, in great measure because he stayed in the field rather than allowing discouragement to drive him to quit. When we work for the Lord, we will not always see quick results. But just as a farmer remains diligent throughout the spring and summer in hopes of the harvest in the fall, we also "shall reap, if we faint not" (Galatians 6:9).
Do not be discouraged if your work and and in sharing your story do not yield immediate results—God will bring the harvest in His time.
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.”
I Corinthians 3:6-9 NKJV