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Pursuing the Prize
by Rev. Myrl Eddings
Ambitious, opportunistic, focused: these are all
words that one may used to describe Jesus’ life and ministry on earth. From a child,
Christ’s aim was to further the kingdom of God and to fulfill his work. He summed it
up rather well when he said, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to
finish his work" (John 4:34). He continued on to emphasize that harvest is presently
ready, that we needn’t wait to gather souls into the kingdom of the Lord.
The crux of this process of sowing and reaping amounted to nothing more than labor. It
goes something like this. One sows the Word of God into peoples lives via teaching or
preaching. Another waters the seed through more exhortation. Finally, if the seed comes
up, someone eventually reaps the benefits of a soul born into the family of God. But
again, it’s not an automatic process anymore than corn grows in the wild. The entire
cycle begins with work.
Jesus also likened this effort of soul harvesting to "fishing for men". He told
his disciples to follow him to become fishers of men (Mark 1:17). The idea is to lure the
potential catches by dangling an attractive morsel of bait before them, or to cast a net
broad enough to ensnare the target. Either way, our aim is to not leave empty-handed.
But what happens when we don’t see the results of our labors manifested in a timely
or seasonal manner? Perhaps we need to do a little more watering or change fields where
we’re sowing altogether. Maybe we should go to the other side of the lake, try
different bait, come back another day, or go to another body of water. Persistence is
vital for the believer in pursuit of lost souls. Considering the obstacles in our way will
typically result in defeat before our effort even gets off the ground. We must go with
optimism. After someone has been around us a while, our faith should be visible without a
word being spoken. The witness or testimony to them should merely be a reinforcement of
the life they see lived in front of them. And remember– we’ll win more people
with our love than we could ever hope to gain with our words.
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