Choose a Sickle or a Sword

  Everyone loves a good fight. Even if you don’t like the physical aspect of a fight, who doesn’t love to see the underdog beat the champion. Who doesn’t love to see the Goliath’s come tumbling down by the accurate throw of a shepherd boy with his trusty sling? People pay good money to watch sporting events where someone wins and someone loses. MMA style fighting in the octagon has made millions based upon a good fight. Boxing has been around for a long time and will continue to be so. Fighting has been ingrained into humanity since someone had something that the other person wanted.
 
We have even been told by the Apostle Paul that he fought the good fight. He tells Timothy to fight the good fight of faith and in Hebrews 10:32 we are told by the writer “ye endured a great fight of affliction”. In his letter to the Ephesians in chapter 6, Paul tells the Ephesians to put on their weapons of warfare to fight the enemy, the devil. He goes on and points out that when they had done all they knew to do to continue to stand. Battling, warfare, and soldiering have been around for a long time and they are not leaving us anytime soon. 
 
  But just as much as everyone loves a good fight I believe the devil loves it more. He loves confusion and the smell of chaos. Turmoil is his drink of choice and when he sits down to a meal he desires calamity to be brought to him. It’s not a matter of winning or losing because he knows he has already lost. He has nothing to gain and nothing to lose because his future has already been determined. So what does he do, he fights, stirs up chaos and confusion so all we have time to do is defend our souls or attack the gates of hell. We become consumed with the sword in our hands and that same sword becomes such an integral part of who we are, that all we know is that our hand cleaves to its handle. 
 
If fighting was so important I wanted to see what Jesus had to say about the topic. What I found was that He was almost silent concerning this. One time in John 18:36 as He is being questioned by Pilate does he speak of this. He said that if His kingdom would be of this world, His servants would fight for Him. We know that His kingdom is not of this world. What I do find in His teaching is that He had a lot to say about the harvest.

 

John 4:35-36

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.

36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

In Matthew 9:37, He said the laborers are few while the harvest is plentiful. It looks to me that He is more concerned with us having a sickle in our hands than a sword. Scripture does inform us that the battle belongs to the Lord, yet we think that we have to fight all day everyday. When He spoke to Pilate that last time Jesus didn’t have fighting on His mind, He was thinking about dying. He understood the greatest principle of the field.If a kernel of wheat fall into the ground and die it will bring forth much fruit. When that seed dies, a harvest can then be reaped by the laborers that have come to the field with their sickles.
 
Have you ever noticed that many battles were fought on soil that had once been harvested to feed future generations. If the enemy can keep us fighting, our future is dying. The young pay the greatest price for fighting. They pay with their lives. Yet if we till, sow, and harvest we can see our futures grow so that they can plant again and again.
 
I do understand that there are times that we must make a stand in certain areas and fight for our identity and our way of life. But if all we do is place a sword in our hands and never a sickle we may be losing more than we will ever gain back. It is time to choose a sickle or a sword. Will you die willingly or will you be killed in a battle that doesn’t mean much to the enemy. It’s your life and your soul. How will you invest it, fighting or harvesting.
 
  
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