I made this picture several months ago in Florida, just north of Pensacola. This cotton field was indeed “white,” waiting for the harvest!
Today’s Bible Thought …
It occurred in John chapter 4, the event we now call “The Woman at the Well” Story. A lady of questionable background. She had met Jesus at a well. Near the Noon hour, in fact, an oddity within itself.
But she soon found a different Kind of Water!
She trusted Jesus as Messiah, her Saviour … and ran back into town to tell everyone!
Not much later she returned … bringing folks with her.
Here’s what she told the crowd, to get them to “follow.”
“Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” John 4:29
What happened next?
“Then they (the local people) went out of the city, and came unto him.” John 4:30, on their way to meet Jesus!
And it was at this point, as the multitude approached our Lord, coming out of the City through the grain fields (crops that would not be “ripe” or “white” for four more months) …
Jesus asked His Disciples: “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
I really believe dozens of people (in white robes, the common dress of that day) were marching to Jesus! Across the fields of “corn!”
Look!
Look!
Look!
Fields still green (or brown) with grain, prematurely “white” unto harvest!
People, needing the Lord!
Approaching the Son of God!
Trusting He is Messiah!
And that term, “white unto harvest,” has now come into our vocabulary, generally expressing something that is “ready for the picking!”
EVERY TIME I SEE A COTTON FIELD, ONE WHITE WITH THE FRUIT OF THOSE LITTLE PLANTS … I THINK OF JOHN 4:35, OF PEOPLE NEEDING JESUS!
Oh, Lord … help us be soul winners, for Jesus’ Sake.
Remember what Solomon said in Proverbs 11:30 … “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.”
Friend, I suspect YOU know somebody right now who is “near” accepting Jesus!
“Not far from the Kingdom of God!”
Ripe, “white” unto harvest!
Go tell them, one more time, about our Saviour!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell