Reaping And Sowing

Reaping And Sowing

Don’t be misled. Remember that you can’t ignore God and get away with it. You will always reap what you sow! –Galatians 6:7

The other day Matt told me that his youth director has taken up gardening. Evidently, however, he didn’t know that he should create certain areas for certain plants and mark what seeds he planted where. So he has no idea what is growing where. But there is no doubt that what grows in his garden will be a direct result of the seeds he has planted.

It works the same way in our lives. We reap what we sow, and often we are surprised and want to blame God for the suffering that grows out of seeds of sin that we plant in our lives. Sometimes when we suffer, we are experiencing the natural consequences of our sinful choices and the sinful choices of others.

How many times has some hurt invaded your life that, if you were honest, you would admit is the fruit of bad choices you have made? God does not always prevent the natural consequences of sinful choices from taking their toll on our lives. The natural consequence of abusing alcohol is often liver disease and the loss of a job. The natural consequence of pride and self-centeredness is frequently broken relationships. But the fact that we may have brought it on ourselves doesn’t make it hurt any less.

Unfortunately, sometimes we can even reap what someone else has sown. Sometimes our suffering is the natural consequence of someone else’s sin. A parent feeds his perverted passions and causes a child to suffer as a victim of sexual abuse. A driver is drunk and swerves on the road, killing innocent people in the other car. It doesn’t seem fair. And it isn’t. In fact, I think the unfairness of it adds to the pain. This is a painful aspect of living in this broken world.

As you search for an answer to your why questions, consider what has been sown in your life or in the lives of people who have hurt you. Ask God to show you how to sow seeds in your life that will result in joy and peace.

Gracious Father, when I look over my life, I can see that often my hurts have been the natural consequences of my bad choices. Forgive me for blaming you. And help me to forgive those whose sin has brought hurt into my life.

DIGGING DEEPER