The Law of Sowing and Reaping
Michael Stubbs
Friday, July 25, 2008
Some years ago, I watched a neighbor work on her yard. She killed the grass, tilled the soil, raked up the dead grass, and prepared the yard for new seed. She worked from daylight to dusk at the task.
When the day finally came to sow the new seed, she appeared in the yard with a large amount of seed and began to sow. Then she carefully raked soil over the seed and covered it with chopped straw. Everyday she could be seen in the yard watering the seed. It seemed to take longer than one would expect, but she finally saw a sea of green appear. But it was not what she expected. It was a sea of weeds mixed in with some meager grass. How could this have happened?
Well, it seems she found some bargain seed for a remarkable price and jumped on it. What she didn’t realize is that cheap seed is not very pure and can be loaded with a variety of weed seed. She wasn’t willing to pay the price for the good seed. She finally bought the more expensive, purer seed and got her yard looking pretty good, but never quite what it could have been because she had little motivation left to start completely from scratch.
This is the way many live their Christian lives. They sow a lot of bad seed in their lives and expect the best kind of harvest. But, to their dismay, their decisions produce a harvest of weeds in the form of hardships, unnecessary suffering, broken relationships and pain.
The Bible says, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7 ESV) If you sow weeds, you will harvest weeds. If you sow unfaithfulness, you will reap the same. If you sow strife, criticism, and discord, this is what you’ll get in return. A selfish person won’t get any favors.
Even those who don’t lean upon the Bible would say, “Whatever goes around, comes around,” or “Your chickens’ll come home to roost.”
So, if you sow generosity, people and God will be generous to you. If you sow love, you’ll get the same. If you are merciful, you’ll receive mercy. If you are faithful and loyal, you’ll love the quality of friends you’ll get in return. If you honor God, he will honor you.
This certainly is not all there is to faith, but it is a good starting point for any Christian. Those who reject Jesus Christ have bigger problems to worry about. A good starting point is to speak out loud to God and ask his son, Jesus Christ to forgive you and to come into your heart. Then visit churches until you find a Bible-believing one that suits you.
Whatever we want in our lives must be sown. We must do to others what we want them to do to us.
I believe in contemplation. Take time to meditate upon what you would like to reap as a harvest in your life. Then begin to sow into the lives of others what you would like to reap as a harvest in your own life.
You might as well do it, because you will reap what you sow, whether you choose to believe the Bible or not.
• “Sunday Sermon” is a forum for Emporia area ministers to share their sermons, thoughts and observations. This week’s sermon is from the Rev. Michael Stubbs of Victory Fellowship Foursquare Church in Emporia.