Preparing Hearts for Harvest

“Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns”
(Jeremiah 4:3).

The Lord’s instruction to Judah through Jeremiah was spiritual
instruction. He wasn’t speaking about farming. The Bible is wonderful in its
clarity, and we can be awfully obtuse in our understanding.

We do not operate like good farmers. We are like a
three-year-old child who plants a bean and digs it up every day to see if it is
growing. We have a Jack-and-the-Beanstalk view of sowing. We expect a giant
plant the next morning.

We are impatient for the harvest, so we are impatient in our
sowing. We sow in unplowed, undisced, and unharrowed ground. We sow in weeds.
We sow in the rocks and on hard ground. We wonder why no harvest. The harvest
is dependent on sowing, which is dependent on us. It is also dependent upon the
ground. The kind of ground is, in a sense, dependent on us. “Break up your
fallow ground, and sow not among the thorns” speaks of the need for
cultivation. Good, soft ground with no rocks and no weeds will bring forth
thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold (Matthew 13).

In the business of evangelism, how do we prepare the ground
even before sowing? Broken ground, soft and moist, is actually hungry for seed.
If earth has a purpose, that is it. “And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth
grass and the tree yielding fruit.’” So it is with people. Prepared people are hungry for the seed of the Word of God.

People should be prepared, like the ground, before the seed is
planted. The “good news” is the seed. How do we prepare people before we start
sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with them?

We are to love them. Love softens the ground.

We are to pray for them. As you pray, God will fill your
hearts with His love for people, and as you pray for them the Holy Spirit will
prepare them to receive the Word of God.

“And the servant of
the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in
meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will
give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” (2 Timothy 2:24-25).

It is important and possible to love people, pray for them, be
patient, gentle, and kind before we mention the God of our salvation. This does
not have to be a long period. It is not the length of time of preparation; it
is the genuineness of our gentleness that is important. If we love people
genuinely, it may be possible to sow good seed into “ready” ground in a matter
of minutes.

Remember, an abundant harvest is dependent upon the amount of
seed sown, the kind of ground sown in, and the obedience of the reapers. Ground
preparation is not something to do in order to get out of sowing; sowing is not
something done in order to get out of reaping. But ground preparation does come
first. Help prepare hearts as you pray for those you know who are not saved.

This post coordinates with today’s reading in the To
the Word! Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading plan,
please join us at TotheWord.com. We would love to have you reading with us.