Mathew 9:37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;

I grew up on a farm in eastern North Carolina, and like most farm boys of my generation we were given quite a few country analogies. I am smiling while I write this for some may miss the point, perhaps because it will be, as we southern Americans say, just a little too down home.

We did not have tractors and the power we used to plow came from a pair of mules that were hitched to various farm implements. Each fall after all the crops were harvested we would plant a cover crop of rye or fescue. We then would install an un-insulated wire around large sections of our fields and energize it, this we called an electric fence. The mules from all the farmers of the land lord would then be turned out to pasture. There were eighteen mules on the farm where I lived.

Once while helping my grandfather or Papa as we called him, he gave me a bit of instruction that has remained until this day, even though he has been gone for more than thirty years.

He said, boy do you see dem thar mules? I replied, yessir papa. Dem thar mules ain’t doing nothin but eating a little grass here and thar. They ain’t making a mess, but they ain’t doing no work either, are they? I looked across the field and replied, No sir they ain’t.

Some folks, he said, is like dem mules in a big field of grass, they ain’t hurtin nothing and they ain’t making much mess, but if they ain’t hitched to something worth while, they ain’t never going to do no work!

Well, at the time I did not think much of the conversation, because in those days, like most children I did not pay much attention to what grown up folks said, I listened just enough to stay out of trouble. But as I grew up and became a Christian, and our Lord placed His call on my life, some of these country stories have come back to mind and made great impressions on my heart.

I have thought about those mules and what papa said that day on many occasions. You know Papa was right, men are like loose mules. The only time men get any work accomplished is when they are hitched to an instrument production!

Is not our Lord’s church assembly such an instrument? Isn’t it best to be in harness with folks of like mind and pull the “Gospel Plow” as we country preachers like to say?

Are you like those mules, are you just drifting around from place to place, not doing any harm, but not accomplishing any work for the lord. Why not find a local assembly of believers and get hitched up and do something for God? Matthew 9:38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

May the Lord of the harvest bless your labors for Him.

James Avery jamesaveryfwb@earthlink.net