Rhythms Of Redemption

Acts 18:1-6

When they opposed and insulted him, Paul shook the dust from his clothes and said, “Your blood is upon your own heads—I am innocent. From now on I will go preach to the Gentiles.” (Acts 18:6)

HARVESTS COME IN DIFFERENT CYCLES. Growing seasons vary by crop, climate, and terrain, and no one argues with the schedule. No one demands that grapes and olives mature when barley and wheat do. Nature has its course, and human beings adapt to its rhythms.

Redemption has its rhythms too. In 1500, about one in every ten people in the world identified themselves as Christian. In 1900, the number had risen to one in five. Today, nearly one third of all people on this planet consider themselves to be Christian, and the percentage is rising. But the growth of Christianity has not been steady or uniform. Centuries ago, Christianity spread through much of Asia, across Europe, and then to the Americas soon after they were discovered. In modern times, we’ve seen waves of growth in Asia and Africa and now the beginnings of movement in the Islamic world. God has moved in different places at different times. That’s how he works.

Throughout history, some places have seemed particularly ripe for harvest while others have not. Paul found some fruitfulness among the Jews of his generation but much more among the Gentiles. As he later wrote, God had ordained specific times for Israel to resist, for the Gentiles to be grafted into Israel’s covenant, and for Israel to be drawn back in (Romans 11:25). We see this dynamic both on a global scale and in the smaller communities of our own families and cities. The Kingdom citizen is discerning about seasons—how different demographic groups respond at different times. There is something to be said for tilling hard ground for years and preparing it for future fruitfulness, as some are called to do. But there’s also something to be said for going where the fruit is ripe for harvesting, as Paul did. Be observant, be sensitive to what you observe, and tend to open hearts. It is always harvest season somewhere.

{Father, Jesus called you the Lord of the harvest and sent his followers into the fields. Open fields before me and direct my steps. Open my eyes to the ready fruit around me. Amen.