The labourers are few

Then He said to them, "The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.  – Luke 10.2

We are studying the book of Acts in church at the moment. Acts is all about the birth of the church and the early attempts to spread the Gospel through all the known world. From the very first days of the church it was an A1 priority. Just a handful of men ‘turned the world upside down’ through their witness.

But Acts is the result of what Jesus is talking about here. Jesus knew He was going to send to the uttermost parts of the earth’ and that the harvest was going to be huge. He also knew that one day the harvest would be more than 7 billion people. Jesus knew then that the supply of labourers would be few, then and now. The harvest is plenteous, but the labourers are few.

There are some places where there is a greater number of labourers, but as a whole 7 billion people is a mighty big harvest field. Somebody has to go, so Jesus says pray that the Lord would send forth labourers into the harvest field.

But we can’t forget about us. While we are praying we need to be putting feet to our prayers. While we pray for the 7 billion we need to start with our own neighbours and friends and family and associations. They too are part of the harvest field and we can do something about  them.