God’s Harvest Testimony
Scripture Reading — Acts 14:8-18
[God] has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons. . . .
Have you ever thought of a stocked grocery shelf as a testimony to God’s goodness?
Many of us do not live in rural areas, where we can often see firsthand our dependence on “rain from heaven and crops in their seasons.” We grow accustomed to finding our food at the store, and we often take planting, growth, and harvesting for granted.
It is easy to get swept up in the myth of human accomplishment. We think we can buy the happiness of our families by the earnings of our hard work. We imagine we can beat grief with our own stoicism. We think we can get out of trouble by impressing others with our charming personality.
But it doesn’t work that way. The apostle Paul admitted that he had once believed he could earn his own righteousness (see Philippians 3:4-9). And when people thought he was a god as they saw God’s power at work in him, he pleaded with them to see that all good things, such as food, health, and healing, are from God alone through the Savior, Jesus.
All of life is a gift of grace. We cannot control the weather. We cannot force growth to occur. We cannot make ourselves righteous. But God’s power can do all that. He shows us each day—even through provisions in the grocery store—that he can grow us spiritually.
Father, open our eyes to the testimony of your harvest in us, and fill our hearts with your joy. In Jesus, Amen.
About the author — Joel Vande Werken
Joel Vande Werken has been a pastor since 2007, serving churches in Sussex, New Jersey, and in Whitinsville, Massachusetts. He and his wife, Brandie, have five young children.
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