Friday, July 18th
Read: Galatians 6:7-8
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.
Talk about these verses for a moment about the intent for sowing.
-How do you sow to please a sinful nature? What are examples of this? Have you ever done it?
-How does the first verse link with the second? What is the connection between mocking God and reaping/sowing?
Our future is a collage of our choices. Of course, we live by the grace of God, and He empowers us and guides us—but He also gives us freedom to choose. With the choices that we make comes consequences, both good and bad. My friend calls this “the future principle.” Pretty much, what we put in, we will get out.
But let’s unpack this whole reaping-and-sowing-thing a little more. Ok so, Matt 7:16-18 tells us that we will be recognized by our fruit, which is what we reap. And that what we reap is evidence of what kind of tree we are. I mean, a thorn bush isn’t going to start growing big juicy apples, is it? What we sow is incredibly important, because we reap whatever we sow. If we sow to please our sinful nature, then that is the kind of fruit our lives will produce. I think that when we sow to please our sinful nature, it is very easy to compartmentalize our lives. Separating our sin from the rest of our life, fooling ourselves and being deceived that this part of our life is separate and won’t affect us too much. The truth is that what we sow into our life completely affects who we are, and the fruit that we will produce.
We reap in proportion to what we sow. Luke 6.38 says “for with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” I do also believe that God adds a supernatural blessing to good seed, if we sow with the right motive. But the reason I have pointed out that we reap in proportion to what we sow is this—the sowing business isn’t always easy. In fact, it can be very hard. Maybe you have experienced this. You might have a burning passion for a particular ministry, or maybe God has placed a certain person on your heart and asked you to intentionally sow into that person’s life. And sometimes that isn’t easy. We face rejection and obstacles. But, even in trouble, we should never downsize our vision. We shouldn’t downsize our sowing. Because if we pull back, and only sow a little, then only a little will be reaped.
So if, for example, you are trying to get through to your friends at school and you are experiencing a lot of rejection whenever you try to bring God up—please don’t back away. Don’t start thinking, “maybe I’ll only sow a little,” or, “maybe I will put less effort into this.” If you sow only a little, you will only reap a little.
When you feel like you are sowing and sowing, but cannot see the fruit, remember— a farmer doesn’t wake up, sow seeds, have a coffee break, and then go back to pull up all his vegetables that he sowed that morning. We reap in a different season to when we sow. So when we are investing in the lives of others, sowing into a vision God gave us, and putting goodness into our own lives— let’s remember that the faith is in the waiting. Let’s continue to carry on and find encouragement in the Word and His promises.
When you are evangelizing remember these verses because if you are evangelizing for the wrong reasons than only destruction will come of it. You must sow to please the Spirit, and in this way your will reap eternal life. Sow for the glory of God, not for the glory of self and you reap eternal life in the things that you sow.
Process:
– Is there anything in your life that you have compartmentalized, because you don’t want to have to deal with your sin? How can you start to change this, and stop sowing this sin into your life? How can you sow more good things into your life? What does God want you to be more intentional about putting into your life?