Command 21 : Pray for Laborers | Day 146

Develop a Sense of Urgency!

Some of the most impacting verses I memorized as a teenager were Ezekiel 3:18-19: “When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.”

This same message is repeated in Ezekiel 33:8-9, which gives it double importance!! These Scriptures have instilled in me a sense of urgency to proclaim the Gospel.

Farmers labor many months for a crop, but have only a small window of time to harvest it before it spoils in the field.

I once heard a story about an 11-year-old boy who bundled up on a Sunday afternoon and said to his father, "Okay, Dad, I'm ready."

His father, who was a pastor, said, "Ready for what?"

"To go out like we always do and pass out tracts."

The dad responded, "Son, it is very cold outside, and it is pouring down rain."

The surprised son replied, "But, Dad, aren't people still going to hell even though it is raining?"

The son convinced his father to let him go out alone. After two hours of walking in the rain, he was soaking wet. With one final tract he approached the nearest house and rang the doorbell. He rang it again and again with no response. Finally the door slowly opened and a very sad-looking woman said, "What can I do for you, son?"

With a smile he said, "Ma'am, I just want to tell you that Jesus really loves you, and I want to give you my last Gospel tract that will tell you all about Jesus and His great love."

The following Sunday morning the pastor asked if anyone had a testimony to share. A woman stood up and said, "Last Sunday I no longer had any hope or will to live. So I went to my attic and prepared to hang myself. As I stood on a chair with a rope tied around my neck, I was about to jump, but then I heard the doorbell ringing. I thought I would wait until it stopped, but it kept on ringing. Finally, I loosened the rope and went to answer the door. I could hardly believe my eyes! The most radiant, angelic boy I had ever seen stood there telling me that Jesus loved me. I accepted the tract he offered me, read every word, and became a Christian."

Jesus tells us that there is a bumper crop waiting to be harvested and warns us, “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest” (John 4:35).

How many friends and neighbors will look at us on Judgment Day and ask, "If you knew the truth about eternal life, why didn't you tell us about it?" Let's list the people we know God wants us to talk to about the Lord and ask Him to develop a sense of urgency in our lives for doing it!