Scripture:
Galatians 6:7-9 Do not be deceived. God will not be made a fool. For a person will reap what he sows, because the person who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So we must not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not give up.
Observation:
It is a sad mark of a life without faith that someone would think that God can be ridiculed without consequence. When there is no basic fear of judgment or recompense – that is, when we think we can get away with anything not just before humanity, but before heaven – there is extreme danger. We all wear our works in our bodies, minds and souls. The corruption is profound and as personal as the self-centric mindset that was its seed. There has and will always be an alternative sowing – to the Spirit in service and obedience to the God-exalting believer living by faith. It’s never done perfectly but when we plant such seed regularly, the crop produced is both in us and others. It’s joy instead of depression, ever new and everlasting expressions of life instead of creeping loss of the capacity to truly and fully live. But there is even a danger in that sowing – that we’d get tired and give up. The arrival of blessing as the coming of the harvest is NOT under our control. The life of faith must never regress into seeing, then believing.
Application:
Going LIFO (last in first out) – let us not give up in doing good and being faithful to our calling. We don’t need to see anything through human eyes to tell us what we’re doing will bear fruit and produce God’s crop. We only need to know how plants grow. Seed – water – crop. That’s all and that’s complete. If crops take a longer than we think to sprout, we should know they’ll be more fully formed when they do come up. We may even be called to the land of promise before we see them; the sowing must go on nonetheless. But we also take heart as we see the glory being formed in our lives – this is from God, not from do-gooding or pleasing people (though blessing DOES please people and it IS doing good). And let us reach out to those who have cast off God as an illusion or worse and find the wick that might somehow burn with the flame of faith. The image of God is still there if they would only grasp. It’s ours to be patient, faithful and loving. Whatever witness we are called to be, let us embrace that, exchanging grace for even the worst venom spewed our way. Is that easy? No, quite impossible without God. But again, His harvest is a resilient one; we can see that if we only look. If we are truly wounded, it’s necessary to convalesce and get healed. But if we are made healthy, it is for the battle of faith and the glorious life of a farmer. Seed – water – crop.
Prayer:
Lord, let us pick up our bag of seed again if we have put it down. Let us embrace the job You have for us, and with all we are and all we have, serve the Lord of the harvest. In Jesus’ name, amen.