Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
Galatians 6:7
Normally, reaping what we sow has negative connotations.
You treat others badly, it will come back to you. You steal and you will suffer consequences. You live by the sword, you will die by the sword etc.
But reaping what you sow is actually a neutral principle. It can be used for good or bad. A farmer sows corn and reaps a corn crop. We treat people fairly and it will come back to us.
We usually understand that sin can be a product of what we sow. But from a Christian perspective, sin is often a product of what we DON’T SOW!
A Christian knows, or at least should know, that our spiritual life is a result of the spiritual seeds that we sow. Reading our Bibles results is spiritual growth. Praying, fasting, church relationships also produce spiritual strength and growth!
LACK OF SEEDS SOWN!
We often think of sin as a failure within ourselves to live up to God’s standards. But that is only part of the equation. We forget that the power to resist sin comes from God! We see our failures and “try harder” to do right. But too often we do not connect our sins to a lack of seeds sown!
If we turn it around, we can easily see that, “If I don’t read, study and meditate on God’s Word, I will not find the strength to resist sin.” “If I don’t develop a strong pray life, I will not have a close walk with God.” “If I don’t go to church…” you get the idea.
Often it is not our failure to “try harder” that produces failure in our walk with God. Rather it is due to the fact that we have not sown the seeds which produce God’s supernatural life and power within us. We fight and claw but wind up failing again and again.
STRENGTH FOR “THE GAME!”
Imagine if a professional football player was 6’5, 90 pounds and could only bench press 50 pounds. Then he goes into a game to try and block a 300-pound muscular defensive lineman. The play starts and he is flattened like a pancake. He is determined not to fail so he encourages himself to “try harder” this time. Again he fails.
What causes him to fail? We can see that it is not his lack of determination or willingness to “try harder.” It is his lack of strength!
What is the solution? He has to hit the weight room. (Hopefully long before this point!)
THE SPIRITUAL "WEIGHT ROOM!"
As Christians, we often want to succeed without hitting the spiritual weight room! We have a will to succeed but don’t spend the time with God to gather strength for big game of life!
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that HE IS A REWARDER OF THOSE WHO DILIGENTLY SEEK HIM.
Hebrews 11:6
BE DILIGENT to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2:15
We can see that our diligence in seeking him is rewarded by God. Diligently planting spiritual seeds will be rewarded with spiritual fruit!
If we do not plant spiritual seeds, we can only hope for achieving something that looks right but has no real spiritual substance!
AND LET US NOT GROW WEARY WHILE DOING GOOD, FOR IN DUE SEASON WE SHALL REAP IF WE DO NOT LOSE HEART.
Galatians 6:9
