The day is late … but the fields are ripe

 The day is late … but the fields are ripe - By Jim Darlington- https://www.wnd.com/2023/05/day-late-fields-ripe/ A pastor I loved once told me, "People finding Jesus will take care of the politics." So … "Extra! Extra! Read all about it! World going to hell in a hand basket! Explicit details to follow!" But that's not news, because it's not new. It is just current events,fulfilling ancient prophecy. The Bible broke the story a couple thousand years ago and more. We watch, as the world unravels. We know we are duty bound to stand against the evil. But, even as all that we know to be good is defiled, like a tsunami washing the coast,we can remain at peace, knowing God will do as He will for His purposes, known to Him alone. We will not ever grasp all His thoughts, but there are those made clear to us, by His Word. The fly that troubles our nose for a moment will never conceive the thoughts it has interrupted, as we wave it away. That barely paints the picture of the scale of our meager,impoverished minds gazing up dumbly at the riches of God's omniscience. Nor does our disdain for the pitiful fly bear any comparison, at all, to God's loving regard for us. The love of God might beckon, and a prayerful claim of acceptance may be made in answer. Yes, Jesus. Thank you. And grace floods the soul. Oh, but the days are wicked andlong, and the taunts of the evil one still so strong. Grace has not washed away the chattering intellect that covets the place of the rational mind. Nor can honesty deny the histories, witnessed personally and in others, of inward self-deceit and outward prevarication,all for the sake of precious appearances. Did I plead with the Lord, or did I dance for an audience of men? Am I a Pharisee, intent on an imagined holiness, simply for the eyes of others? Does the sin that still plagues me not prove the falseness of my confession? Well, well …Welcome to the club! "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptationwill also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." [1 Corinthians 10:13, emphasis added.] What human mind is not tempted to answer that reality with self-accusation? Paul tells us to seek out the fruit of the Spirit to confirm our election. What temptation didI fall to and why didn't I see the way out, if I am truly saved? Were you convicted of your wrongs and convinced of your accursed fate? Did you weep at the touch of God's mercy, in the joy of the promise, proven by the risen Christ? Didthe Spirit of the Lord not touch you, in a way unknown in your life till that moment? Or was that moment something different, something calm and simple, as the realization, through a night of dark dreams, that the sun will soon rise. God knows your heart betterthan you do. The devil's greatest success, it's said, is convincing us that he doesn't exist. Look at the evil unfolding in the world around us and repent of that delusion! Maybe his close second is spinning believers off into the rabbit hole of questioning their own salvation. How will they then share that which they doubt? Of all the sins forwhich we may be judged, how is that not among the saddest? Repent of it. I repent of it! Intellectually, there is every rationale under the sun for doubt, and whatever we may lack the world will cruelly supply. Rational thought offers little patience to the realmof the miraculous. Faith, humbled before an unfathomable Creation, rejoices in the God who can do anything. Listen, my friend, if you wonder if you know the truth. I know there's a God because I run from him every day, just like you do. He commands us, he corrects us, and we don'tlike it. We who do not apprehend salvation are imperfect. We who claim salvation are imperfect. The Lord alone is perfect. Salvation means we are denied our due punishment by the sacrifice of the Christ, who willingly suffered in our stead. It is an invitation, from then until forever, to receivesuch a gift, an utter impossibility, only after it has been freely given first by the Lord. We can only love Him because He loved us first. God's only limitation is that He cannot cease to be God, or so we can only imagine. Being simultaneously human, withinthe human form His Hand created, was hardly more than He could manage. He gave choice and heart and souls to these forms, surely knowing many choices made by these fragile creatures would be so dark as to lead some to seek the light. And He came as the Lightand the Life and the Way. This writer recently noted having been published 25 times in WND.com over the last couple years. For the most part they have been rants about the abundant crimes of the agewith a mix of well-intended, if presumptuous, solutions. We conclude that the only reason to take the time, to enumerate the evils of the day, is to offer them as an urgent need for a call to Grace. The sky is dark but the fieldsare ripe, so we must hurry. Thank you, Jesus.