Preserves!

Harvest time is near. Crops will be brought in soon. This reminds of the end of every summer, when we (my brothers, sisters, and cousins) would help shake down the pears from my Granny's pear tree. Then, we would help her make pear preserves. We LOVED doing this! We had fun shaking the limbs and filling the buckets with pears! We would help wash them, and I don't know how many were eaten that never made it to the kitchen! Thinking back on this and the process that she used to create the preserves, made me stop and realize- CHRISTIANS ARE PRESERVES! They are a great type of what the Lord has done and IS doing in our lives!

Recipe for  Pear Preserves: 

1.  The pears have to be harvested FIRST! "Then saith he unto his disciples, The HARVEST truly is PLENTEOUS, but the labourers are FEW; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that HE will send forth labourers into His harvest. We have to be brought in, or saved, first! If you are not saved, you can be right now! Call on the Lord for salvation and HE WILL HEAR! He is not willing that ANY SHOULD PERISH, BUT THAT ALL SHOULD COME TO REPENTANCE! ( 2 Peter 3:9). If you are saved, now it is YOU THAT MUST GO AND BRING THEM IN,  as our Saviour instructed. The fruit MUST be brought in to be preserved!
2. When the fruit is harvested, it is gathered together with all of the other fruit! When we are saved or "brought in from the fields of sin," we are instructed to join together with our new family in the Lord. "Forsake NOT THE ASSEMBLING OF YOURSELVES TOGETHER, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; AND SO MUCH MORE, as ye see the day approaching." Hebrews 10:25. We need to be together to help each other and grow stronger spiritually through exhorting one another. There has to be more than one pear to make a jar, or 'FAMILY' of preserves! They depend upon each other to get the job of filling the jar DONE! I Corinthians 12:12-31.
3. After they are brought in, they have to be washed. Just as the dirt and soil from the earth is washed once they are harvested,  we have to be washed as well. The Lord cleansed our hearts when we were saved, but once we are saved, we have to rid ourselves daily of our sins and leave our "earthliness" or "worldliness" behind. The Lord cannot use a dirty vessel. "That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the WASHING OF WATER BY THE WORD!" Ephesians 5:26. "And such were some of you; but ye are WASHED, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." I Corinthians 6:11.
4. The pears are cut into pieces or slices. NO WE ARE NOT LITERALLY CUT INTO PIECES! But spiritually, this would mean that we die to self! Just as the pear is lessened in size when it is sliced, so should we be lessened of self as we draw closer to the Lord. "HE MUST INCREASE, BUT I MUST DECREASE!" John 3:30.
5. Next, the pears are placed in a pan or bowl, and covered with sugar to soak in it over night. Once we have been cleansed and die to ourselves daily (I Corinthians 15:31), we need to soak and absorb the "sweetness" of the Lord's Word. "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom;" Colossians 3:16a. " How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"
6. After soaking, the pears are cooked on the stove slowly. This softens the pears and creates the preserve jelly itself. The Lord will place us in the spiritual fire and heat as well, to prepare our hearts, so we can be used. "But He knoweth the way that I take; when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." Psalms 51:17.
7. Then, the pears are poured into a jar and a SEAL is placed over the top of the jar and the top ring of the jar secured over it. This SEAL is what actually preserves the fruit. "In whom also AFTER THAT YE BELIEVED,  ye were SEALED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT of PROMISE." Ephesians 1:13. At the moment of salvation, we are SEALED with the Holy Ghost, which is the earnest of our salvation, Ephesians 1:14. We will be kept until He gathers us home to heaven as PROMISED in  John 10:28 &29 " And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall NEVER PERISH, NEITHER SHALL ANY MAN PLUCK THEM OUT OF MY HAND. My Father, which gave them me, is GREATER THAN ALL; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."
8. After all of the jars are sealed, they are gathered together into the storehouse. "Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Matthew 3:12. "....and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we EVER BE WITH THE LORD." I Thessalonians 4:16a&17.

Have you been harvested into the Lord's storehouse? If not you can be. He does not want any fruit to perish! "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord SHALL BE SAVED." Romans 10:13. Don't wait. Today is the day of Salvation! The Lord could return TODAY! Then you can say "The Lord shall PRESERVE thee from all evil: He shall PRESERVE thy soul. The Lord shall PRESERVE thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore." Psalm 121: 8.