Fruit of “our?” labour.

One challenging thing Jesus revealed to me before embarking on this journey is that we need to be content, labouring for Him our whole lives without seeing any fruit. That is speaking of the harvest coming in and not the fruit of the spirit. Some of His disciples may spend their entire life sowing seeds and others watering, just for some evangelist to come in and take all the credit. If this seems discouraging, we need to realign our focus since we should find joy in Jesus and not in our works, which are filthy rags to the Father. Besides, God’s goodness draws a man to repentance, not the fiery teaching of an evangelist or the clever words of a pastor. So, who can take credit for any fruit? I’m not saying we shouldn’t rejoice with Jesus when someone comes to repentance. In the parable of the prodigal son, we see the father invite all his friends and family to celebrate the return of his son. But, we need to have joy in Jesus, regardless of the fruit.

We have certainly been on both sides of this scale, where we’ve laboured for months without seeing any fruit, and yes, we do feel discouraged and sometimes even feel like giving up. But then we feast our eyes on Jesus, dust ourselves off, and we press on with renewed hope and joy. And by the grace of God, we get to a place like West Bank, East London, where we are privileged to reap with Pastor Danny, who has been man alone sowing and watering in Lighthouse ministries for the last 2 years.

On 10 December 2022, we arrived in West Bank with the Cronje family and set up camp. Each of us: Henri, Yolandi, Bradly, Elmi and I shared our testimony in church the next day. By the evening, three families already wanted to be baptized. The next day after explaining the Gospel, true repentance and the cost of discipleship, two of the three families were born again in the baptism of water and the Holy Spirit. The following week Tjaart, Charlene, Stephan, Rolene and Marc arrived and shared their testimonies in church, after which the father of the other family where baptized, and another family followed a week later.

Ever since, we’ve been discipling them, and it’s with great excitement that we watch as the Holy Spirit works in their lives, convicting them of sin, challenging them to the great commission and giving them baldness to stand firm among their families and friends.

My conclusion, then, is that if God’s goodness draws a man to repentance, God’s grace allows us to see fruit. For we are merely His humble servants, we have only done our duty.