Ripened for the Harvest

“Yet another angel, who had authority over fire, came from the altar, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, "Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from earth's vineyard, because its grapes have ripened." So the angel swung his sickle toward earth and gathered the grapes from earth's vineyard, and he threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath.”
Revelation 14:18-19
When fruit ripens fully it becomes all that it will be. A blossoming tree is beautiful, and one with perfectly ripened fruit is truly inviting, but when no harvest comes the once gorgeous tree becomes a rotting mess! In the natural world, God has provided animals to eat the ripened fruit if no man gets it first.

Spiritually, the process of ripening happens for the righteous and the unrighteous. The unrighteous ripen to the point where they are ready to be gathered and thrown into "the great winepress of God's wrath." But the righteous also ripen into everything God has planned for them to be here on this earth. And then in God's perfect timing for their lives, He gathers them to Himself.

I must yield my life to the ripening process of God's will for me. Then I will be all that I can be in Jesus Christ!