Do you allow the truth of reaping and sowing to affect your actions?

Galatians 6:7

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

Reaping What We Sow

There is no doubt the Word of God teaches that, whether for good or for bad, we reap what we sow. If we plow evil, we’ll sow trouble (Job 4:8); if we sow sparingly, we’ll reap sparingly; and if we sow bountifully, we’ll also reap bountifully (2 Cor 9:6). We cannot deceive God like we can a man or a woman (Job 13:9). There are consequences for our actions–either blessings or curses. Sin brings death (Rom 6:23a), but God’s gift through Christ is eternal life (Rom 6:23b). Just like a soft answer turns away wrath, so does a harsh word turn up anger (Prov 15:1). My cousin is very hot-tempered. I hate driving with him. When I was much younger, he got road rage really bad, and the guy came back behind us and pulled up next to us–with a gun, no less–so his hot temper stirred up quite a conflict, but after talking to him patiently, he grew a lot calmer (Prov 15:18).

Do Reaping and Sowing Affect Your Actions?

I knew a very generous man who started tithing, and then he started giving more and more away until he was tithing nearly 90% of his income, but he kept having more and more blessings poured back into his lap (Luke 6:38). He ended up receiving more blessings than he ever gave. It’s true: You can’t out-give God, and he proved it. I would have been terrified to try that. This man’s faith was very strong, but he proved to me that God is faithful, and he reaped so much more than money for his generosity. He had a wonderful family and a very good job, and he was one of the happiest people I have ever met. Did sowing affect his actions? Without a doubt it did! He proved to me that the generous will themselves be blessed (Prov 22:9) and that a giving person will prosper like few others (Prov 11:25).

A Natural Law

Nature itself proves to us that what we sow we will reap and that we will reap exactly what we sow. If we sow a lot, then we’ll reap a lot, but sow sparingly and the harvest will be small. In other words, we reap in proportion to what we sow but almost always much later than we sow. The farmer never gets discouraged by sowing wheat. In one month–nothing.  In two months–nothing. No, he is patient, for he knows that what he has sown will surely be reaped but much later than he sowed. The truth about reaping and sowing is that no one reaps an immediate harvest. The exception to this might be that when you sow some terrible things, you might reap instant consequences or in a shorter time than when you sow righteous seed and reap much later. Back to my hot-tempered cousin. He once was in such a hurry that he got a speeding ticket. He was very angry, but he sowed the bad seed of civil disobedience and reaped an immediate harvest (as in a ticket).

A Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your generosity in blessing me, even when I am not sowing good seed. Please help me to understand that I will reap what I sow and that the consequences may not be what I desire. Thank You for Your biblical wisdom in knowing the truth about sowing and reaping, and in Jesus’ name I pray.

Amen