HH, Sir Godfrey Gregg D.Div

“ But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:” (Ephesians 4:15).

Harvest is a time of ripeness. Then the fruit and grain are fully developed, both in size and weight. Time has tempered the acid of the green fruit.

It has been mellowed and softened by the rains and the heat of summer. The sun has tinted it into rich colours, and at last, it is ready and ripe to fall into the hand.

So Christian life ought to be. There are many things in life that need to be mellowed and ripened. Many Christians have orchards full of fruit, but they are all green and sharp to the taste. There is a great deal in them that is good, but it is incomplete and very sharp and sour. Do not give up, for the harvest will soon be ripe and your reward is near. We pray that labourers be sent into the vineyard to reap the crop.

Perhaps something goes wrong in your domestic life, and you get flurried and cross and lose your confidence in God, and then, of course, your Christian joy. These things produce regret and all kinds of misery. Yes, we were there some point in our life and I want to encourage you that the blame does not rest on God. Find out where we slid off the path and try to get back on track the blood-stained steps.

There are many things day after day you are sorry for. You know you are not ripe and mellow and you cannot become so by trying. You cannot bring the sweetness in. It must be wrought out from within. Do not settle for the outward appearance, because God has to work on the inside first for the world to see the beauty.