Sowing and Reaping

We Reap What We Sow

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” (NKJ)

Pagan astrologers believe our lives are controlled by the stars.  Even the former president of the USA, Ronald Regan, came under this influence by his wife. People who believe that events in our lives are controlled by the stars encourage people to think that they are not responsible for the things that happen in their lives. The expression “Thank my lucky stars!” came from that line of reasoning.

Others believe that everything is an accumulation of accidents, and that everything happening in our lives is the result of chance encounters recorded in our genetic code and carried out in the physical realm. To them there is no right or wrong, just choices made by genetic material molded by eons of chaos. Whatever enables the survival of the fittest becomes the moral code. Political fascism comes from this line of reasoning. The elite are those who have special inherited abilities, and they should make decisions concerning the evolution of the species. Hitler lived this fantasy, revealing its arrogance and lack of spiritual values.

Some believe that our Creator God arbitrarily manipulates the lives of His people by intervening in our everyday lives by disrupting the laws of His creation. Thus God is made personally responsible for every bad thing that happens in the lives of His children. If a young child dies, it is because God wanted another angel in heaven, as I have seen engraved on a gravestone. If a drunk driver runs head-on into a righteous person’s car, and kills them, it was their time to go. Many believe that God has designated a day and hour for our death, and that nothing we do will change that appointment. God does know everything before it happens, but He has made us personally responsible for many of the things that happen in our lives. We should believe in the power of God, but also believe His message that we are accountable for our actions.

We reap what we sow. Every action has a reaction. Even inaction has its consequences. Hatred sown with malicious intent produces a harvest of more hatred and leads to destruction. The Balkan tragedy is an example of the result of using force to control people’s lives. The Ottomon invaders killed the flower of Serbia’s elite leadership and imposed Islam upon a conquered people. The blood shed on the “Field of Black Birds” (Kosovo Polje) in 1389, and the bitter legacy of hatred nurtured for six centuries, has led to recent death and destruction. Hatred produces more hatred. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.

God is not mocked.  One may sneer at God, one may be derisive toward God, one may reject God’s counsel; but He who rules all things will accomplish His purpose. God will judge us by the way we respond to Jesus. We will reap what we sow. Those who turn to God by faith in Jesus Christ will bury a dead body with Jesus and be raised to walk with Him, having escaped from the penalty of death, washed by His blood. Those who reject Jesus will be destroyed.

Jesus put Himself in our place and received in His body the punishment for our sins; He reaped what we have sown. By Him we are transformed into a glorious harvest. God’s children reap eternal life by sowing faith in Jesus.