The Sowing and Reaping Law

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

Laws of nature are not merely suggestions. Neither are they open for debate. Laws govern everything we do in life. Take gravity, for example. Discovered by Newton, it basically says that things tend to fall downward. We have a saying that more aptly describes it: What goes up, must come down. You can pretend it doesn’t exist, but you better not try to defy it. I discovered the law of gravity the hard way, when as a young boy, I tied a pillow case around my neck and jumped off the roof of our house thinking I would fly like Superman. Do I need to tell you the outcome?

Paul wrote to the Galatian Christ followers about a spiritual law; sowing and reaping. It follows a natural law that says if you plant tomatoes, you reap tomatoes, but it goes much further. It deals with sowing carnal things and spiritual things. 

Sowing carnal things reaps a harvest of corruption. Sowing spiritual things reaps a harvest of life. Dear Christ follower, don’t sow what the people of the world sow. If you do, you’ll reap the same thing.

Instead of sowing wild oats, sow spiritual seed.

Instead of sowing lies, sow love.

Instead of sowing parties, sow prayer.

Instead of sowing sexual pleasure, sow sexual purity. 

Instead of sowing hate, sow heaven.

Then, instead of reaping corruption, you’ll reap life!

It’s true, you reap what you sow. What kind of harvest do you really want?

Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. Galatians 6:7-8 (The MESSAGE Paraphrase)