FAMILY IT! — Wednesday Family Devotional — “Harvest Plan”

Supplies: Bible; notecards, at least one for each family member; pens

THINK 

Do you know what it means to be an outsider?  An outsider is someone who doesn’t belong.  For some reason, they don’t fit in and are often excluded, picked on, teased, or just left out of what everyone else is doing.  I went through an “outcast” season in middle school.  We moved to a new state and our new church was a half hour away in a different town.  All of the kids at church went do a different school, so it took a long time to build relationships.  For a short time, I felt very left out and lost.  Has that ever happened to you?  Share with each other about a time when you felt like an outcast.

No matter where we are, there are always some people who don’t seem to fit in.  Take a minute to think about people like that where you are.  Who are some outcasts at work?  School?  Your neighborhood?  Church?  Have each member of your family pick at least one person they know who is often left out and write that person’s name on their notecard.  (If your elementary student was in PoC Kidz this Sunday, they already wrote down some names.  Have them find those cards for the rest of this activity or make out new ones.)

READ

Read Matthew 9:35-38 together.  Paraphrase for younger children. 

THINK AGAIN

When Jesus looked around at the crowds following Him, He saw the same thing we see today: people being harassed and feeling helpless.  His heart broke for these lost sheep, not because they were being excluded from the cool group, but because they were at risk of being excluded from Heaven.  Jesus knew that unless these people were taught about the God and given a chance to believe in Him, they would miss out on eternity.  And these folks weren’t just in the town He was in—they were everywhere, a harvest field of lost souls!  So He asked His disciples to pray that God would send more believers out to help these lost individuals come to God. 

APPLY

Jesus has the same prayer for us today.  He wants our help in “harvesting” the harassed and helpless people that are all around us.  He wants to use us to “bring in” the lost people at our schools and workplaces and neighborhoods to the Kingdom of Heaven.  Take another look at your notecard.  What can you do, specifically, to reach out to that person?  How can you help them be included, first socially, but eventually eternally?  On the back of the card, write out a plan of how you will build a relationship with this person.  (Again, if your child already has a card from Sunday, they may have already thought of a plan.  Help them write it down if they need to.)  Go around and share your plans.  Talk about a timeline when each of you will implement the plan and a date when you will check back with each other to see how it’s going.

Continue to pray that the Lord of the harvest will send more workers into His harvest field.  As you’re doing that, realize that others have been praying for you…because you are now counted among those workers.  Thank you!

PRAY

Jesus, thank You for having a compassionate heart for those who are harassed and helpless.  Thank You for caring enough to send people to rescue the lost.  You sent someone after each of us to help us learn about You.  Help us now as we go out as Your workers in Your fields.  Bless these conversations and relationships, Jesus, and may they bring new lives into Your Kingdom.  In Your Name we pray, Amen.

REPLY

Did you and your family enjoy this devotional blog?  We'd love to know about it!  Our hope is to continue providing this weekly opportunity for families to do a devotion together.  If your family did this devotion, please shoot us an email, text or just post a comment to this blog.