Wow! Covid-19 sure turned our lives upside down, didn’t it? As a society we are still dealing with the changes the pandemic has brought. How are you doing? Has Covid changed the way you look at life? Do you think differently about things? From mandatory mask requirements to working from home and now mass unemployment, what is next? We have faced celebrating birthdays alone, holidays without family gatherings and saddest of all are the people forced to die all alone. Here we are now, trying to get back to some sense of normalcy. People are going back to work in the office, schools are finally opening, restaurants are returning to full capacity, factories producing, banks opening for regular hours and churches holding regular services!

The only thing missing from sectors returning to normal are the people who support the businesses. Where are the workers? Unemployment numbers show over 7.4 million people remain unemployed. And another 4.4 million have quit their jobs. What is the cause of this wide-spread unemployment?

‘NOW HIRING’ signs are posted all over town. In hospitals, sandwich shops, factories, and gas stations. Increased wages plus signing bonuses, adjustable hours: can it get any easier to work? So, why is there such a shortage? Have we become a lazy society? Have we lost sight of priorities? Have we forgotten responsibilities to family, friends, society, and to God? God is looking for workers too!

Throughout last year, 96% of churches provided some form of remote option for their congregation. In January of 2020, 15% of people were attending church online; in January of 2021, 58% of people were attending online. Current numbers indicate that we are about 47% of people attending online.

Are you attending church? In Matthew 9:36-38 Christ saw the need for workers, “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into the harvest.’”

In the book of Matthew 20:1-16, Jesus tells a parable of workers in the vineyard of God. Verse one, “For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard.” Where does God find his laborers?

It is true, we should all have a personal walk with our Lord; be able to talk and meditate on his love and find his will for us. But how can you hear what he has for you if you are not in church? 58% of people are saying, “I do not have to go to church to hear from God!”

God understands the situation of people that are physically unable to attend the house of God. But those of us who are able-bodied need to get to church. Hebrews 10: 24 -25 “And consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

Dear one – do you see the day approaching? Do you feel the pressing of the times? Is God trying to employ you to a laborer for him? Please, for you and your family’s sake, consider employing yourself for God. As this time ends, we dare not sit idle in God’s business. Factual data verified via various internet sources.

~ J Kretzler