The “harvest mind” is one of the ways of looking at the world that I pray will become natural to you as a born-again believer. What do I mean by the harvest mind? As far as I know, this phrase was invented by a friend of mine named Ron Lewis. Ron was the church growth consultant at our church before he died of cancer several years ago serving here as our consultant for about 25 years. He took the phrase from the Lord’s command to look at the fields that are white already unto harvest and to pray to the Lord of the harvest that He would send workers into the harvest. The Scriptures from which this idea comes are Matthew 9:37-38, Mark 4:26-29, and John 4:34-38. In each of these cases, the Lord makes the point that the seed of the Gospel has been sown in the world, that the Spirit of God has entered the world, that the Spirit of God is working in the church and in the preaching and witness of the church, and that there is opportunity in the world to reach people for Jesus Christ.
A man I admired a great deal as a pastor once said he believed every person he met needed the Lord Jesus Christ – most of them just didn’t know it yet. That’s a clear expression of the belief that people need the Lord and the Lord has made it possible for them to receive Him. He has, in fact, worked in many people’s lives so they are ready. However, He will not do the harvesting. We must work at the harvest and pray for others to do the same.
The harvest mind is the opposite of the attitude many modern Christians have. Perhaps Christians have always felt that way, but I’m only familiar with the Christians of our day. Too many of us believe that all people are basically resistant to the Gospel, religion is a private matter, and we should not intrude in other people’s lives or seek to impose our values on them. If we ever decided we wanted to share, it’s something we should only attempt after lots and lots of relationship building and after earning the right to be heard. Jesus simply said, “The harvest is ready, and it is time for workers to be sent.” You and I are those workers. My experience is that unless we develop a mind that sees the world that way and honestly believe the Lord Jesus has done His work so the harvest is ready, we will probably hang back in timidity. Do you have the harvest mind? Ever? Occasionally? Never? Begin praying to the Lord of the harvest and ask Him to give you a harvest mind. Tell Him you’d like to have a fresh vision of the world that sees the world as ready to respond to the Gospel. Ask the Lord to lay some soul upon your heart that you may begin to reach out to them in the name of Jesus.
