My wife’s cousin needs his glasses to see. If he misplaces them, then he is as blind as the proverbial bat. Recently, he was plowing his garden in the back yard with his tractor. As he leaned over to sight the row and follow it with the tractor’s wheel, his glasses slid off of his nose and fell to the ground. Before he could stop the tractor, he had plowed his glasses under and into the ground. He searched and searched but could not find them.
When his wife got home, she got him to the doctor and he secured another pair of glasses. He never did find his other pair of glasses and shortly went on with life. Unbeknownst to him, however, his wife had told his mother about the episode. His mother then waited a few days till she knew he would be at work. She then went done to his house with fifteen or so pairs of old glasses, went out into the garden with its freshly laid off rows, and stuck the glasses all up neatly in a row as if they had been planted. She then tipped Ricky’s wife off about what she had done.
Later on that evening, Ricky’s wife suggested they walk out to the garden and see how it was coming along. When they arrived, Ricky spotted a pair of glasses. “Look,” he said, “there’s my glasses.” About that time, he saw the other glasses all neatly standing up in a row and realized he had been had!
Needless to say, our entire family has had a hardy laugh about this whole episode. And yet, it does illustrate a basic principle in life: we always reap what we sew. One reaps corn when corn is sewn. One reaps wheat when wheat is sewn. Etc., etc… It is a basic law of farming.
What is true in the natural world is also true in the spiritual world. As we go through life, we sew and then we reap. If we sew the fruit of the Spirit, that is what we will reap. If we sew otherwise, our harvest will reflect this as well.
Galatians 6:7-8 tells us that this is a principle that God Himself has set in motion: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
In light of this, it behooves us to spend our lives sewing good and not evil, sewing right and not wrong, sewing truth and not falsehood. For if we are not careful, even a small seed of unrighteousness can grow and blossom into a huge bush and fill our lives with the thorns of misery and pain. By the same token, even the smallest seed of righteousness can be used of God to grow into a tremendous blessing for ourselves and others.
As Jesus said in Mark 4:30-32: “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”
When his wife got home, she got him to the doctor and he secured another pair of glasses. He never did find his other pair of glasses and shortly went on with life. Unbeknownst to him, however, his wife had told his mother about the episode. His mother then waited a few days till she knew he would be at work. She then went done to his house with fifteen or so pairs of old glasses, went out into the garden with its freshly laid off rows, and stuck the glasses all up neatly in a row as if they had been planted. She then tipped Ricky’s wife off about what she had done.
Later on that evening, Ricky’s wife suggested they walk out to the garden and see how it was coming along. When they arrived, Ricky spotted a pair of glasses. “Look,” he said, “there’s my glasses.” About that time, he saw the other glasses all neatly standing up in a row and realized he had been had!
Needless to say, our entire family has had a hardy laugh about this whole episode. And yet, it does illustrate a basic principle in life: we always reap what we sew. One reaps corn when corn is sewn. One reaps wheat when wheat is sewn. Etc., etc… It is a basic law of farming.
What is true in the natural world is also true in the spiritual world. As we go through life, we sew and then we reap. If we sew the fruit of the Spirit, that is what we will reap. If we sew otherwise, our harvest will reflect this as well.
Galatians 6:7-8 tells us that this is a principle that God Himself has set in motion: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
In light of this, it behooves us to spend our lives sewing good and not evil, sewing right and not wrong, sewing truth and not falsehood. For if we are not careful, even a small seed of unrighteousness can grow and blossom into a huge bush and fill our lives with the thorns of misery and pain. By the same token, even the smallest seed of righteousness can be used of God to grow into a tremendous blessing for ourselves and others.
As Jesus said in Mark 4:30-32: “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”