Your harvest is coming

There are three rules to planting and harvesting that every farmer knows, but did you realize those three rules apply to your life too?

May 17, 2024

And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. (James 3:18)

I love living in Kansas, but maybe it’s just the culture of an agricultural community that’s so attractive to me. I like being rural, far enough away that the influence of city life isn’t a distraction but still close enough that you don’t have to rely on your canning skills every day.

We never quite know how the wheat harvest is going to turn out here in South Central Kansas. Some years harvest doesn’t start until July. Other years, it’s started as early as late May. It depends on how much rain we get, how hot it gets, etc.

As I’m writing this devotional at the beginning of April, all the wheat fields are still verdant velvety green. It won’t take long, though, for that vibrant green color to turn golden, and when it heads out, you can stand in the road and listen to the whisper of the wind in the wheat heads.

Farmers understand what it means to plant and harvest. If you’ve done any gardening, you get it too. When it comes to growing things, there are several laws of nature that come into play.

You always harvest the same thing that you plant. You don’t plant green beans and get raspberries.

You always harvest more than you plant. You may plant one small seed, but that one small seed will yield baskets of produce. (Unless you’re talking about zucchini … and then it’s truckloads. And nobody else ever wants them.)

You always harvest later than you plant. You don’t plant in the morning and harvest in the evening. It takes time, effort, energy, intentionality. You have to water. You have to weed. You have to chase the rabbits and the moles and the gophers away.

Did you know those three laws of nature apply to your life? Your choices? Your attitude?

If you spend your life doing harmful, negative things, your life will be harmful and negative, and it won’t end with you. It will spread to everyone around you. But it might not happen overnight. It might start off fun, but it will end in heartache.

But on the contrary, if you spend your life doing good things, obeying God’s Word, being intentional about following Jesus—that’s the harvest you can look forward to. A harvest of blessing and abundance and peace in enormous quantities. But that third law is still true too. It won’t happen overnight. It will take some time, and in that time, you may have to pull some weeds. You may have to do some back-breaking work. You may go through hard times while you’re waiting for your harvest.

But make no mistake, your harvest is coming.

So hang in there. Be patient a little bit longer. Wait for the right time to harvest what you’ve planted, and God will make sure you receive a blessing for what you’ve done for Him. Abundantly.