Measuring the Harvest, Part 2

Some harvest measurements can deceive us. When a church's pews are full, the church should not assume that it is mature. When a psychologist claims that 90% of a child's personality is established by the age of 4, a parent must not infer that his school-aged child doesn’t need him. When most of my students rate me favorably, I must not conclude that my teaching has no need for improvement. When a motivational speaker promises that a habit is formed by 21 days of consecutive action, we should not believe that only three weeks of sowing will reap a lifetime of discipline.

Early students of human behavior coined the phrase the "social sciences." They believed (and many still believe) there are precise laws of human behavior, like the laws of physical science, that can be monitored and measured. As Neil Postman has written, these "psychologists, sociologists, and economists will have numbers to tell them the truth or they will have nothing." But human behavior is too unpredictable to know with certainty what people will do in any given situation.

Measuring the harvest is also tricky because we observe people who sow evil, but reap good -- demagogic politicians who are respected and re-elected; depraved filmmakers who win fame and fortune; cheating students who receive accolades and awards. Like the Jews of Malachi's day we may become discouraged: "It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements? . . . Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape." (3:14f)

When evil prospers, a moral fog blankets the earth. But occasionally the fog lifts -- a politician is caught lying; a professional athlete is suspended for using performance enhancing drugs; a religious leader is caught stealing church funds. But one day the veil will completely and permanently lift when we "will again see the distinction between those who serve God and those who do not. Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire." (3:18 - 4:1). All the wicked -- even the most celebrated fools -- will simply be stubble, the refuse from God's harvest. They won't survive his fiery judgment.