• You Reap What You Sow

    By: Kristen L. McNulty



    I've heard it many times. I've said it many times. Why do I need to do the right thing? After all, no one else seems to concerned about doing it. Friends let me tell you from experience that it is a dangerous road to go down. Why? Because while we might be tempted to live in the moment, our lives are very much built on what we did yesterday and the day before that and the day before that.

    You don't get to grade 11 without passing grades one to ten first. And you don't pass a grade without passing many exams and tests and you don't pass exams or tests (at least most of us don't) without a lot of studying beforehand. So while today it might look like someone is just a teenager in high school, what that student did at age six and nine and eleven all lead to that moment.

    If that's true, then why is it we think we can live today any way we please and it doesn't matter? I'm convinced its because we truly believe that what we do doesn't really matter and that our decisions today don't effect tomorrow. But oh do they ever!

    We're told this in the book of Galatians where Paul was addressing a crowd who seemed to think that way. Here's what he had to say in response:

    "Don't be misled-you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone-especially to those in the family of faith." (Galatians 6:7-10)

    We reap what we sow. Those who live to satisfy their sinful nature are going to have lives that reek of garbage because sin produces death and decay. But those who live to please the spirit, please God, theirs lives are different because all around them is life that is being brought forth and they wait in expectation for the blessings God has promised.

    We reap what we sow. It would be crazy to go in your backyard in the fall and expect a bumper crop of tomatoes and beans and cucumbers if you never planted any seeds or spent any time watering and tending to the plants. In the same way we're crazy to think that God is going to produce blessings in this life or the next if we live in sin and selfishness today. It's that simple.

    Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.

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