The Field is White
Bro. Alan Morrison

John 4:35 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.

The old saying is, “You can’t see the trees for the forest.” Some even say, “You can see the forest for the trees.” The point is perspective. A thousand people can look at a piece of abstract art in a museum and there will be a thousand different opinions on what it is. Why? Perspective.

In John 4:35, the disciples had a sight problem: they didn’t see the great harvest of souls right before them. While they were focused on other things, they didn’t realize that there was a field of dying men coming right toward them that were ripe for the reaping. Let’s look at some of their sight problems.

They went for supper, Christ went for souls. Verse 31 tells us that the disciples were urging Christ to eat some meat. But Christ was more focused on the souls he was trying to reach. Sometimes, we look at the temporal things that only last a few moments. But Christ wants to focus our attention on the eternal souls all around us. When we go to a restaurant, the gas station, or Walmart, we are very focused on the temporal things like: get in, get out, get going. But what about the lives at stake?

Another eye problem for the disciples was they didn’t look because it wasn’t ready yet. Christ asked a very intriguing question, which was really a common quote. “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest?” He pointed out their fault: waiting too long. Not only were they focused on the temporal things, but they were putting off the eternal. In our minds we get this way very easily. We look at someone and think, “They have a long way to go spiritually.” Or, “They are such a mess, I don’t know if they would ever listen long enough to get saved.” But Christ was trying to explain to us, the time is now. It is not the time to wait, but to go. They are almost done, get going now! Don’t look at the field and say, “It needs more time.” Look at them and say, “There is no time.”

The other problem with the disciples eyes was very simply direction. They were looking down. Christ said to them, “Lift up your eyes.” We sure do get caught looking down a lot. Whether it be discouragement, or simply a distraction. We often times don’t see the harvest, merely because we are not looking for the harvest.

Let’s turn our eyes to the harvest and see it as Christ did: an eternal field of souls that are ripe right now!