It may seem common sense to say “you reap what you sow,” but it is amazing how many of us still don’t get it! We understand that when you plant corn, you can’t expect watermelons to grow. But we don’t seem to understand that what our lives produce is usually a direct reflection on what we planted. Paul wrote this, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).
Here are a few examples of sowing and reaping:
1. If you sow seeds of rage and anger, you will reap a harvest of war! If you have ever thought that your house felt like a war zone, then stop to see who is planting seeds of anger (it may very well be you).
James 1:19-20 (ESV) “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
2. On the other hand, if you sow seeds of tenderness and forgiveness, you’re likely to reap a harvest of peace!
Ephesians 4:31-32 (ESV) Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
3. Sow seeds of ignorance, and you will reap a harvest of sin. You cannot be lazy about learning without sinfulness being the result!
Hosea 4:1-2, 6 (ESV) “Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed…My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”
4. But when you sow seeds of training and learning, you will reap a harvest of wisdom and righteousness.
Proverbs 22:6 (ESV) “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
5. Sow seeds of laziness and waste and you will reap a harvest of poverty. Certainly, not all poor people are poor because of laziness and wastefulness, but if a person is lazy and wasteful long enough–they WILL end up in poverty!
Proverbs 28:19 (ESV) “Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty.”
6. But if you sow seeds of hard work and sacrifice, you are a lot more likely to reap a harvest of plenty! Obviously not everyone who works hard and sacrifices has plenty, but it is nearly guaranteed that you will NOT have plenty if you don’t work hard and sacrifice!
Proverbs 14:23 (ESV) “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.”
Those are just a few examples to think about. When you don’t like what your life is producing start looking at what your planting!
