But may all who search for you
….be filled with joy and gladness in you.
May those who love your salvation
….repeatedly shout, “The Lord is great!”
As for me, since I am poor and needy,
….let the Lord keep me in his thoughts.
You are my helper and my savior.
….O my God, do not delay. Psalm 40:16-17 NLT

John 4:35 (<<click here to read the passage)

I’ve spoken of it before but a big part of working at Kohl’s all those years was the constant push to solicit people to open new Kohl’s charge accounts. As with all credit cards, we have a choice. We can manage it…or it will manage us. And that is how Kohl’s and other companies make a lot of their money. People cannot control their spending and though they may be saving money, they are paying far more in interest rates when they don’t pay off their balance each month!

Regardless, those of us who had been in the business long enough would argue that we couldn’t get people to open new accounts because everybody either had a Kohl’s charge or were not interested and would never be interested!

Then along would come a new, enthusiastic associate who just wouldn’t be told “no” …and – shocker – they would just start pulling in new accounts one after another.

In today’s passage, Jesus states,

You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe [white] for harvest. John 4:35 NLT

The Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation has this to say,

Sometimes Christians excuse themselves from witnessing by saying that their family or friends aren’t ready to believe. Jesus. however, makes it clear that around us a continual harvest waits to be reaped. Don’t let Jesus find you making excuses. Look around. You will find people ready to hear God’s Word.

To be honest, I struggle in this area. For me, much of my hesitancy is fear of offending those within my reach of communication or, at least in my mind, the fear that they will be so turned off by my sharing that they will flat out refuse to listen to anything I have to say about God or will reject me, at which point I would cease to have any impact on them at all!

I truly believe that people are impacted by the genuineness of our daily walk. Our work associates or family members cannot help but see the real us! Life has a way of throwing all kinds of things in our face and the way we respond quite often thrusts forth the real us! It’s like hitting your finger with a hammer, if those curse words are in you…they’re going to come out loud and strong! If that’s part of who we are, who we really are is going to show!

But that is truly only part of what it means to share our faith. It cannot be just our actions. At some point, we need to speak! We need to share!

Lord Jesus, strengthen us! Embolden us! Help us to stop making excuses but instead, may we look around and find that people from every walk of life are eager, are hungry, to hear God’s word! Amen!

May 4th, 2021, Tues, 7:49 pm