We reap what we sow.
The
harvest in your life today is the result of what you have sowed in the
past. This was a hard lesson for the
Israelites to learn. In Judges 2:1-4 it
records the failure of the Israelite people to follow through with God’s
directions. Their failure in the past
results in placing them in a position of conflict and hardship.
In
the area of finances for example, those who save wisely today are rewarded
tomorrow. Those who spend foolishly
today will be in want tomorrow. It is
short sighted thinking to only focus on today with no thought for tomorrow.
Galatians 6:7 (NKJV) Do not be deceived, God is not mocked;
for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
Every
farmer understands the truth of this harvest principle. They understand that you can only harvest
what you sow, more than you sow and later than you sow.
Harvesting
what we sow is good news for those with living a God honouring life; but is bad
news for those living an un-godly life.
To live how you want with no thought as to how God wants you to live
will only bring a disastrous result. It may seem that your lifestyle is paying
off in the present; but in the future it will reveal itself for what it really
is.
Galatians
6:7 highlights the issue of the careless and indulgent lifestyle of many
people. “Do not be deceived, God is not
mocked”. They are deceiving themselves by either not
believing the truth or just thinking that they are exempt from God’s laws. To mock God is to turn up one’s nose at Him
and to proclaim that you know better!
What
we sow becomes more than we sow. When a
farmer plants seed there is an expectation that the seed will produce itself
many times over. A single seed can multiply itself into dozens and even hundreds
more. A small decision that we make to
sin or to do right can lead to a much larger crop for either joy or sorrow.
In the parable of the Sower, Jesus alludes to this
truth as to how God’s Word can affect our lives when we receive it openly. Mark
4:8 (NKJV) But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that
sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a
hundred."
What
we harvest, comes later than we sow. The
world we live in today is obsessed with instant gratification. We want results and we want them now. If the harvest doesn’t come soon enough we
may give up. Or others because the harvest of their actions are not revealed
now; they continue down the road unwittingly to their own destruction.
Crops
of the field are predictable to their timing.
Seed packs will even give you the approximate number of days from sowing
till harvest. Experience has taught us
the time needed. But not so for the
harvest of life! Our sowing may come soon or it may take a very long time. Either way, we should not be deceived as to
the timing of our harvest. What we have sown we will reap!
This
is a snare for those living their lives without any regard to what is
right. It may seem that there are no
consequences. But the time of our reaping will come sooner or later!
For
those living with faith it should be an encouragement and comfort to know. Sometimes our struggle is great and
overwhelming. But our faithfulness will
be rewarded sooner or later!
Read: Mark 4:1-20
