Sowing is labor to spread God's truth and seek the salvation of souls, and reaping is the joyful gathering of the results of that work. To sow in tears is to do that earnest work burdened with weeping, prayer, sorrow and hardship for sinners' conversion, and to reap in joy is to see souls converted and brought to God as its fruit. Christ Himself is the pattern Sower, who gave His life and watered the seed of life with His blood for a lost world, and those who call souls to be reconciled to God must follow Him in toil, sorrow and self-giving. Those who go forth weeping bearing the precious seed of the gospel will return rejoicing with their sheaves, for faithful self-sacrificing service will not go unrewarded but receive God's favor and a rich harvest. That harvest is both souls won to Christ now and joy and triumph in heaven, the eternal home where the weary find rest and immortal glory.
Meaning of Sowing Imagery
Sowing is labor to spread God's truth and seek the salvation of souls, and reaping is the joyful gathering of the results of that work. That labor may be carried forward with sorrow and hardship and even with weeping and prayer, yet it returns with joy and its fruit. Faithful, earnest, persevering effort to reach people and bring them to faith is the sowing, and its harvest is the fruit borne.
The seed sown is the precious seed of the gospel, the truth, including the final message, carried and preached, prayed over, and sown beside all waters. Going forth weeping while bearing that precious seed describes preaching, praying, and laboring for souls, with loyal, faith-filled service that receives God's favor and approval and does not go unrewarded. That weeping sowing taxes mind and heart and stirs the soul to the very depths, calling for strength and efficiency in every discourse and fresh supplies of things new and old from the storehouse of God's word to impart life and power to the hearers, lest exhaustion take away freshness and life and wear out prematurely.
Sowing in tears is earnest, burdened work for sinners' conversion done with weeping, prayer, sorrow, hardship, and a soul stirred to the depths that taxes mind and heart. It is going out with precious seed, weeping and praying for people to be converted, burdened for sinners, with an intense desire to represent the truth in life and character and a deep yearning that others may see the light and rejoice in it. That burden of labor can involve deep personal strain and may need renewed strength, efficiency, and rest to continue faithfully and serve with freshness and life rather than being kept up continuously to premature wearing out. Reaping in joy is seeing souls converted and brought to God and to Christ as the fruit of that faithful effort to God's glory, gathered in due time through that faithful effort.
Sheaves are souls gathered as the fruit of gospel labor, brought to the Master and to Christ, whose sight is the worker's joyful reward and recompense. Faithful, unselfish use of what God has entrusted to help save others and meet their needs gathers such sheaves, and the hope of gathering them applies to people responding to the truth and being gathered to a decision with the Lord's help. Labor that relies on sensation and excitement without the Spirit of God, a burden for souls, conviction of the claims of the law of God, teaching repentance toward God and faith in Christ, and patient shepherd work to finish what was begun gathers very few sheaves. Sowing includes spiritual tillage: breaking up the stubborn, hardened soil of the heart and fallow ground, cultivating it, and planting seeds of righteousness amid perversity, unbelief, opposition, and the thwarting of holy plans. That sorrowful work of turning from sin and persistent spiritual tilling in the churches by teaching and sharing the truth promises a future harvest of joy despite present tears, for God works through the workers, prepares hearts by His Spirit, and the harvest comes in due time as eternal life.
Reaping follows faithful use of appointed means, for God provides seed, soil, sun, and rain and gives the increase, but does not work a miracle to make up for neglect to plow, sow, and labor. The husbandman must plow and sow and labor, and then he receives according to his sowing and his labor, trusting God alone to give the increase in each disciple's work including the home missionary's. If he lays aside the appointed work and only prays for a result, harvest time finds his fields barren with no grain to reap and no sheaves to gather.
Christ the Pattern Sower
Sowing in tears means carrying out God's saving work through suffering and sacrifice, for sorrow and suffering come before the joy of harvest. Christ went forth in solitude and suffering to sow, giving His life to sow the seed of life for a lost world and watering that seed with His blood. His servants must show the same devotion and consecration, carrying the warning message and the truth to people everywhere and trusting that their labor will lead people to accept the words of life.
Those who in Christ's place call souls to be reconciled to God must follow Jesus as teacher and pattern in a life of toil, sorrow, and suffering, giving self for others as He gave Himself. They must search for the scattered sheep without waiting for every obstacle to be removed, going out by faith and trusting Him who called them to open the way for their good and His glory despite Satan's objections. Those who hope to reign with Christ in glory must share in His sufferings now, and their weeping labor will end in glad harvest.
Tears, conflict, self-denial, self-abasement, cross-bearing, humiliation, penitence, and toil are the Christian's portion in this life and the ordained conditions of salvation, meaning conflict and self-denial and sacrifice on his own account for Christ's sake to win immortal glory. This answers Christ who sacrificed everything to make heaven possible, for Christ, the sinless Prince of Heaven, submitted in man's behalf to far deeper condescension, humiliation, hunger, guilt-bearing, and suffering to place redemption within reach and make heaven possible. Anyone with a just sense of the magnitude of salvation and its cost will never murmur at this hard and painful sowing in tears. Those who endure sorrow and sacrifice in serving Christ will receive joy in the harvest of immortal glory, and sincere repentance toward God for transgression of His law with faith in Christ as Redeemer and Advocate brings comfort, peace, and the sweetest joy now and leads to heavenly honors, immortal joys, and immortal glory.
Earnest missionary work may be carried out with prayer and tears as precious seeds of truth are sown, yet it will yield a joyful harvest. Those who faithfully labor and cultivate Christian character through good works will reap what they have sown. Christ sees the fruit of His own suffering in the redeemed.
Workers and Their Fields
Ministers and true watchmen are the sowers who go forth weeping while bearing precious seed, and their sowing is labor for souls undertaken with tears and prayer by those burdened for sinners. That faithful work can involve sorrow and hardship and discouragement, yet it will end in joy as they return rejoicing with the results of their work as sheaves brought to the Master to God's glory. God's messengers sow by preaching, praying, and laboring for souls, bearing the seed of truth, and this work can tax mind and heart. Labor in discouragement and tears as ministers bear the seed of truth will end in joy for those who sow faithfully.
Foreign missionaries sow by leaving home and its comforts and the society of friends, wife, and children to proclaim mercy in foreign lands among idolaters in darkness, moved by love for Christ and the needs of the lost. Their sorrowful sowing endures sorrow, hardship, and even loss of life in the attempt, yet painful sacrificial labor in spreading the truth can yield a joyful harvest. That bountiful harvest is others raised up to carry on the work, the step-by-step progress of the cause of Christ, the extension of the knowledge of God, the planting of the banner of the cross in heathen lands, and souls turned from sin to righteousness. Families and consecrated men and women also sow by settling in humble dependence upon God in the waste, desert places of His vineyard to stand as fruit-bearing trees of righteousness, receiving a rich harvest as reward for self-sacrificing efforts to sow seeds of truth. This takes place as they visit family after family opening the Scriptures to those in spiritual darkness until many hearts are touched.
Parents sow through tears and prayers for their children, and though the seed sown may seem fruitless and appear to bring no result, faithful labor can finally bear a joyful harvest when the children are redeemed and sorrow is turned to joy. Faithful work involving tears and self-denial yields children won to Christ as sheaves brought to God, and a mother can train children, including a child entrusted to her care, to become part of that harvest. Faithful teachers sow through earnest, devoted work for the salvation of souls amid hardship, and the students won are sheaves brought to the Master in which teacher and students will share eternal life and bring a harvest of people to God. Each disciple sows, including the home missionary, as God's people go forward weeping while sowing the precious seeds of truth and trusting God alone to give the increase.
Christian women and men of every age are to serve when they have opportunity, trusting that work involving self-denial, earnest effort, and sorrow to bring others to salvation will ultimately reap joy, spiritual growth, and a joyful harvest. Those who use the Lord's gifts for His glory and what God has entrusted to them to help save others and meet their needs will rejoice in faithful, unselfish labor when they see the people gathered, and the sight of the sheaves gathered will be a joyful reward and recompense for faithfulness when the harvest comes. Sowing on missionary ground that looks unpromising must be done in simplicity, faith, and hope, and it will not disappoint but brings fellowship with Christ and His faithful servants and eternal results with souls won as sheaves, one soul being worth more than all paid for land. Those who labor through sorrow and discouragement will ultimately reap joy as they keep sharing truth with faith, tears, and patient hope even when the way ahead is unclear and hopes are disappointed, trusting the Lord to bring the increase. Sowing the seed of truth through persevering, earnest labor in difficult fields may be hard but can yield a precious harvest of souls, requiring workers to venture anything and everything without seeing every step clearly ahead, pushing ahead in the dark as well as in the light, holding up bravely under discouragements and disappointed hopes, and still working on with tears and patient hope sowing beside all waters.
How to Sow Faithfully
God's chosen messengers are to search for the scattered sheep without waiting for every obstacle to be removed, going out by faith and trusting the One who called them to open the way for their good and His glory despite Satan's objections. Faithful husbandmen must sow with tears in patience and hope, meeting troubles and sorrows and enduring temptations and wearisome toil that afflict the soul, continuing through trouble for what is right and waiting patiently in faith for God's time to vindicate the right. Impatience in that waiting forfeits a rich reward, while patient, hopeful faith will end in joy and in final victory.
Workers must not pause in doubt over whether to prosecute a labor that grows as performed, and must not stop, fail, or be discouraged. The reason is that sowing is breaking up stubborn soil and fallow ground and planting seeds of righteousness amid perversity, unbelief, opposition, the thwarting of holy plans and consecrated effort, and the evil heart of unbelief. Reaping comes by and by through cooperation with God rather than trust in self, for God works through the workers and prepares hearts by His Spirit, and the harvest will come in due time as eternal life.
The burden that stirs the soul to the very depths taxes mind and heart, for true watchmen go forth bearing precious seed and sowing beside all waters with weeping and prayer, with an intense desire to represent truth in life and character and a deep yearning that others may see the light and rejoice in it. That strain cannot be kept up continuously without wearing out prematurely and losing freshness and life, so the sower needs strength and efficiency in every discourse, fresh supplies of things new and old from the storehouse of God's word to impart life and power to the hearers, and rest. Darkness and despondency may still come to self-sacrificing people who labor through sadness rather than constant peace and joy, but they are not evidence of being opposed to God and may lead them to seek Him more earnestly.
Tears that precede holiness are godly sorrow that leads to repentance and the peaceable fruits of righteousness, when the penitent labors and weeps with patient expectation like rain before the sunshine of a fruitful harvest. This is not selfish grief over trouble or regret at sin's consequences while the heart remains unchanged, but sorrow borne in faithful service that will yield a joyful harvest when the Reaper returns rejoicing with the gathered sheaves. By contrast, labor that relies on sensation and excitement without the Spirit of God, a burden for souls, conviction of the claims of the law of God, teaching repentance toward God and faith in Christ, and patient shepherd work to finish what was begun gathers very few sheaves. Selfishness and unfaithfulness cause opportunities to bring souls to the Master to be lost, whereas seeking the character God requires and surrendering the will could have led to success.
A worker who has not labored through sorrow and sacrifice in sowing precious seed and has not yet been tested enough has not earned a reputation for self-denial and service for others to trust his experience. Changes in circumstances can deepen workers' experience and help prepare them to continue gathering sheaves for the Master, for which there is a reward to gain.
Joyful Harvest Promised
Those who go forth weeping while bearing precious seed will come again rejoicing bringing in sheaves, for labor to spread truth through sorrow and hardship returns with joy and its gathered results. Faithful, loyal and self-sacrificing service for souls, done with earnest effort and prayer to bring people to God and to Christ, does not go unrewarded but receives divine favor and approval, a rich harvest, and an eternal reward. The bountiful harvest of such missionary sacrifice is others raised up to carry on the work, the step-by-step progress of Christ's cause, the extension of the knowledge of God, and the planting of the banner of the cross in heathen lands. Leaving home comforts and the society of friends, wife, and children to proclaim mercy among idolaters in darkness, moved by love for Christ and the needs of the lost, even to the loss of life in the attempt, is the sorrowful sowing, while the spread and establishment of the Bible's message and gospel where it was not known is the reaping.
The harvest brings the joy of seeing people embrace the truth, take their stand, accept the words of life, and gather to decision with the Lord's help, pictured as gathering golden sheaves that are souls brought to Christ. Yet the question remains whether there will be a harvest to meet with joy rather than grief. Each saved soul adds praise to the triumphant song of the redeemed in the joy of seeing souls saved. Those who endure toil, heavy burdens, sorrow, and sacrifice through life with tears will reap joy and triumph in heaven, their eternal home and the harvest of immortal glory. There the weary find rest, peace, and joy, teacher and students won to God share eternal life as sheaves brought to the Master, and faithful workers receive immortal joys and eternal reward.
Sincere repentance toward God for transgression of His law and faith in Christ as Redeemer and Advocate bring comfort, peace, and the sweetest joy now and lead on to heavenly honors. Tears, conflict, self-denial, self-abasement, cross-bearing, humiliation, penitence, and toil are the appointed portion and conditions of salvation in this life, never to be murmured at by those who sense the magnitude and cost of salvation, since the sinless Prince of Heaven submitted for man to far deeper condescension, humiliation, hunger, guilt-bearing, and suffering to place redemption within reach and make heaven possible. The promise that those who sow through tears will ultimately reap with joy belongs among the psalms whose words are to be sung in worship.
Sowing is labor to spread God's truth and seek the salvation of souls, and reaping is the joyful gathering of the results of that work. To sow in tears is to do that earnest work burdened with weeping, prayer, sorrow and hardship for sinners' conversion, and to reap in joy is to see souls converted and brought to God as its fruit. Christ Himself is the pattern Sower, who gave His life and watered the seed of life with His blood for a lost world, and those who call souls to be reconciled to God must follow Him in toil, sorrow and self-giving. Those who go forth weeping bearing the precious seed of the gospel will return rejoicing with their sheaves, for faithful self-sacrificing service will not go unrewarded but receive God's favor and a rich harvest. That harvest is both souls won to Christ now and joy and triumph in heaven, the eternal home where the weary find rest and immortal glory.
Meaning of Sowing Imagery
Sowing is labor to spread God's truth and seek the salvation of souls, and reaping is the joyful gathering of the results of that work. That labor may be carried forward with sorrow and hardship and even with weeping and prayer, yet it returns with joy and its fruit. Faithful, earnest, persevering effort to reach people and bring them to faith is the sowing, and its harvest is the fruit borne.
The seed sown is the precious seed of the gospel, the truth, including the final message, carried and preached, prayed over, and sown beside all waters. Going forth weeping while bearing that precious seed describes preaching, praying, and laboring for souls, with loyal, faith-filled service that receives God's favor and approval and does not go unrewarded. That weeping sowing taxes mind and heart and stirs the soul to the very depths, calling for strength and efficiency in every discourse and fresh supplies of things new and old from the storehouse of God's word to impart life and power to the hearers, lest exhaustion take away freshness and life and wear out prematurely.
Sowing in tears is earnest, burdened work for sinners' conversion done with weeping, prayer, sorrow, hardship, and a soul stirred to the depths that taxes mind and heart. It is going out with precious seed, weeping and praying for people to be converted, burdened for sinners, with an intense desire to represent the truth in life and character and a deep yearning that others may see the light and rejoice in it. That burden of labor can involve deep personal strain and may need renewed strength, efficiency, and rest to continue faithfully and serve with freshness and life rather than being kept up continuously to premature wearing out. Reaping in joy is seeing souls converted and brought to God and to Christ as the fruit of that faithful effort to God's glory, gathered in due time through that faithful effort.
Sheaves are souls gathered as the fruit of gospel labor, brought to the Master and to Christ, whose sight is the worker's joyful reward and recompense. Faithful, unselfish use of what God has entrusted to help save others and meet their needs gathers such sheaves, and the hope of gathering them applies to people responding to the truth and being gathered to a decision with the Lord's help. Labor that relies on sensation and excitement without the Spirit of God, a burden for souls, conviction of the claims of the law of God, teaching repentance toward God and faith in Christ, and patient shepherd work to finish what was begun gathers very few sheaves. Sowing includes spiritual tillage: breaking up the stubborn, hardened soil of the heart and fallow ground, cultivating it, and planting seeds of righteousness amid perversity, unbelief, opposition, and the thwarting of holy plans. That sorrowful work of turning from sin and persistent spiritual tilling in the churches by teaching and sharing the truth promises a future harvest of joy despite present tears, for God works through the workers, prepares hearts by His Spirit, and the harvest comes in due time as eternal life.
Reaping follows faithful use of appointed means, for God provides seed, soil, sun, and rain and gives the increase, but does not work a miracle to make up for neglect to plow, sow, and labor. The husbandman must plow and sow and labor, and then he receives according to his sowing and his labor, trusting God alone to give the increase in each disciple's work including the home missionary's. If he lays aside the appointed work and only prays for a result, harvest time finds his fields barren with no grain to reap and no sheaves to gather.
Christ the Pattern Sower
Sowing in tears means carrying out God's saving work through suffering and sacrifice, for sorrow and suffering come before the joy of harvest. Christ went forth in solitude and suffering to sow, giving His life to sow the seed of life for a lost world and watering that seed with His blood. His servants must show the same devotion and consecration, carrying the warning message and the truth to people everywhere and trusting that their labor will lead people to accept the words of life.
Those who in Christ's place call souls to be reconciled to God must follow Jesus as teacher and pattern in a life of toil, sorrow, and suffering, giving self for others as He gave Himself. They must search for the scattered sheep without waiting for every obstacle to be removed, going out by faith and trusting Him who called them to open the way for their good and His glory despite Satan's objections. Those who hope to reign with Christ in glory must share in His sufferings now, and their weeping labor will end in glad harvest.
Tears, conflict, self-denial, self-abasement, cross-bearing, humiliation, penitence, and toil are the Christian's portion in this life and the ordained conditions of salvation, meaning conflict and self-denial and sacrifice on his own account for Christ's sake to win immortal glory. This answers Christ who sacrificed everything to make heaven possible, for Christ, the sinless Prince of Heaven, submitted in man's behalf to far deeper condescension, humiliation, hunger, guilt-bearing, and suffering to place redemption within reach and make heaven possible. Anyone with a just sense of the magnitude of salvation and its cost will never murmur at this hard and painful sowing in tears. Those who endure sorrow and sacrifice in serving Christ will receive joy in the harvest of immortal glory, and sincere repentance toward God for transgression of His law with faith in Christ as Redeemer and Advocate brings comfort, peace, and the sweetest joy now and leads to heavenly honors, immortal joys, and immortal glory.
Earnest missionary work may be carried out with prayer and tears as precious seeds of truth are sown, yet it will yield a joyful harvest. Those who faithfully labor and cultivate Christian character through good works will reap what they have sown. Christ sees the fruit of His own suffering in the redeemed.
Workers and Their Fields
Ministers and true watchmen are the sowers who go forth weeping while bearing precious seed, and their sowing is labor for souls undertaken with tears and prayer by those burdened for sinners. That faithful work can involve sorrow and hardship and discouragement, yet it will end in joy as they return rejoicing with the results of their work as sheaves brought to the Master to God's glory. God's messengers sow by preaching, praying, and laboring for souls, bearing the seed of truth, and this work can tax mind and heart. Labor in discouragement and tears as ministers bear the seed of truth will end in joy for those who sow faithfully.
Foreign missionaries sow by leaving home and its comforts and the society of friends, wife, and children to proclaim mercy in foreign lands among idolaters in darkness, moved by love for Christ and the needs of the lost. Their sorrowful sowing endures sorrow, hardship, and even loss of life in the attempt, yet painful sacrificial labor in spreading the truth can yield a joyful harvest. That bountiful harvest is others raised up to carry on the work, the step-by-step progress of the cause of Christ, the extension of the knowledge of God, the planting of the banner of the cross in heathen lands, and souls turned from sin to righteousness. Families and consecrated men and women also sow by settling in humble dependence upon God in the waste, desert places of His vineyard to stand as fruit-bearing trees of righteousness, receiving a rich harvest as reward for self-sacrificing efforts to sow seeds of truth. This takes place as they visit family after family opening the Scriptures to those in spiritual darkness until many hearts are touched.
Parents sow through tears and prayers for their children, and though the seed sown may seem fruitless and appear to bring no result, faithful labor can finally bear a joyful harvest when the children are redeemed and sorrow is turned to joy. Faithful work involving tears and self-denial yields children won to Christ as sheaves brought to God, and a mother can train children, including a child entrusted to her care, to become part of that harvest. Faithful teachers sow through earnest, devoted work for the salvation of souls amid hardship, and the students won are sheaves brought to the Master in which teacher and students will share eternal life and bring a harvest of people to God. Each disciple sows, including the home missionary, as God's people go forward weeping while sowing the precious seeds of truth and trusting God alone to give the increase.
Christian women and men of every age are to serve when they have opportunity, trusting that work involving self-denial, earnest effort, and sorrow to bring others to salvation will ultimately reap joy, spiritual growth, and a joyful harvest. Those who use the Lord's gifts for His glory and what God has entrusted to them to help save others and meet their needs will rejoice in faithful, unselfish labor when they see the people gathered, and the sight of the sheaves gathered will be a joyful reward and recompense for faithfulness when the harvest comes. Sowing on missionary ground that looks unpromising must be done in simplicity, faith, and hope, and it will not disappoint but brings fellowship with Christ and His faithful servants and eternal results with souls won as sheaves, one soul being worth more than all paid for land. Those who labor through sorrow and discouragement will ultimately reap joy as they keep sharing truth with faith, tears, and patient hope even when the way ahead is unclear and hopes are disappointed, trusting the Lord to bring the increase. Sowing the seed of truth through persevering, earnest labor in difficult fields may be hard but can yield a precious harvest of souls, requiring workers to venture anything and everything without seeing every step clearly ahead, pushing ahead in the dark as well as in the light, holding up bravely under discouragements and disappointed hopes, and still working on with tears and patient hope sowing beside all waters.
How to Sow Faithfully
God's chosen messengers are to search for the scattered sheep without waiting for every obstacle to be removed, going out by faith and trusting the One who called them to open the way for their good and His glory despite Satan's objections. Faithful husbandmen must sow with tears in patience and hope, meeting troubles and sorrows and enduring temptations and wearisome toil that afflict the soul, continuing through trouble for what is right and waiting patiently in faith for God's time to vindicate the right. Impatience in that waiting forfeits a rich reward, while patient, hopeful faith will end in joy and in final victory.
Workers must not pause in doubt over whether to prosecute a labor that grows as performed, and must not stop, fail, or be discouraged. The reason is that sowing is breaking up stubborn soil and fallow ground and planting seeds of righteousness amid perversity, unbelief, opposition, the thwarting of holy plans and consecrated effort, and the evil heart of unbelief. Reaping comes by and by through cooperation with God rather than trust in self, for God works through the workers and prepares hearts by His Spirit, and the harvest will come in due time as eternal life.
The burden that stirs the soul to the very depths taxes mind and heart, for true watchmen go forth bearing precious seed and sowing beside all waters with weeping and prayer, with an intense desire to represent truth in life and character and a deep yearning that others may see the light and rejoice in it. That strain cannot be kept up continuously without wearing out prematurely and losing freshness and life, so the sower needs strength and efficiency in every discourse, fresh supplies of things new and old from the storehouse of God's word to impart life and power to the hearers, and rest. Darkness and despondency may still come to self-sacrificing people who labor through sadness rather than constant peace and joy, but they are not evidence of being opposed to God and may lead them to seek Him more earnestly.
Tears that precede holiness are godly sorrow that leads to repentance and the peaceable fruits of righteousness, when the penitent labors and weeps with patient expectation like rain before the sunshine of a fruitful harvest. This is not selfish grief over trouble or regret at sin's consequences while the heart remains unchanged, but sorrow borne in faithful service that will yield a joyful harvest when the Reaper returns rejoicing with the gathered sheaves. By contrast, labor that relies on sensation and excitement without the Spirit of God, a burden for souls, conviction of the claims of the law of God, teaching repentance toward God and faith in Christ, and patient shepherd work to finish what was begun gathers very few sheaves. Selfishness and unfaithfulness cause opportunities to bring souls to the Master to be lost, whereas seeking the character God requires and surrendering the will could have led to success.
A worker who has not labored through sorrow and sacrifice in sowing precious seed and has not yet been tested enough has not earned a reputation for self-denial and service for others to trust his experience. Changes in circumstances can deepen workers' experience and help prepare them to continue gathering sheaves for the Master, for which there is a reward to gain.
Joyful Harvest Promised
Those who go forth weeping while bearing precious seed will come again rejoicing bringing in sheaves, for labor to spread truth through sorrow and hardship returns with joy and its gathered results. Faithful, loyal and self-sacrificing service for souls, done with earnest effort and prayer to bring people to God and to Christ, does not go unrewarded but receives divine favor and approval, a rich harvest, and an eternal reward. The bountiful harvest of such missionary sacrifice is others raised up to carry on the work, the step-by-step progress of Christ's cause, the extension of the knowledge of God, and the planting of the banner of the cross in heathen lands. Leaving home comforts and the society of friends, wife, and children to proclaim mercy among idolaters in darkness, moved by love for Christ and the needs of the lost, even to the loss of life in the attempt, is the sorrowful sowing, while the spread and establishment of the Bible's message and gospel where it was not known is the reaping.
The harvest brings the joy of seeing people embrace the truth, take their stand, accept the words of life, and gather to decision with the Lord's help, pictured as gathering golden sheaves that are souls brought to Christ. Yet the question remains whether there will be a harvest to meet with joy rather than grief. Each saved soul adds praise to the triumphant song of the redeemed in the joy of seeing souls saved. Those who endure toil, heavy burdens, sorrow, and sacrifice through life with tears will reap joy and triumph in heaven, their eternal home and the harvest of immortal glory. There the weary find rest, peace, and joy, teacher and students won to God share eternal life as sheaves brought to the Master, and faithful workers receive immortal joys and eternal reward.
Sincere repentance toward God for transgression of His law and faith in Christ as Redeemer and Advocate bring comfort, peace, and the sweetest joy now and lead on to heavenly honors. Tears, conflict, self-denial, self-abasement, cross-bearing, humiliation, penitence, and toil are the appointed portion and conditions of salvation in this life, never to be murmured at by those who sense the magnitude and cost of salvation, since the sinless Prince of Heaven submitted for man to far deeper condescension, humiliation, hunger, guilt-bearing, and suffering to place redemption within reach and make heaven possible. The promise that those who sow through tears will ultimately reap with joy belongs among the psalms whose words are to be sung in worship.