You have probably heard the phrase, “you reap what you sow”. Although I understand the concept, in principle, it is untrue. I’m not a farmer, but I know some farmers and I drive by farms often (at least I used to before I had to work from home all the time!). The truth is, that as a farmer, you reap what you sow, more than you sow, and later than you sow.
For each seed planted, the harvest replaces that seed but also adds many more kernels of grain to the total. The average ear of corn has 800 kernels. If the stalk produces four ears, that is a total of 3200 kernels from the one planted. What other investment gives you a 3200% return? This increase doesn’t happen immediately but comes over time.
What does this have to do with growing as a man of God. Everything! The Apostle Paul describes this best in Galatians 6:7-10, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
When God allowed Joshua to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land of Canaan, it was a time of celebration and victory. Their long journey was over. All he asked of them was to obey his commands and allow themselves to be used by him to administer judgement on the evil in the land they were to possess. The Canaanites were idol worshipers whose “worship” of their gods included prostitution, debauchery, and even child sacrifice. This needed to stop, and God was using Israel to take care of the problem.
With this command, God also provided the ability to carry it out in full as he demonstrated in their very first battle at Jericho. They simply marched and the city walls fell. But something went awry. By the first chapter of Judges, we learn the Israelites had failed. Instead of wiping out the sinful enemy, they allowed some to live among them. By the end of the book of Judges, we see the consequences. The Israelites were no longer fighting the Canaanites but were now attacking and destroying each other. The last three chapters of Judges are some of the most horrible accounts of evil in all of Scripture. Allowing sin to live alongside the Spirit of God in our lives can reap some devastating consequences.
We reap what we sow, more than we sow, and later than we sow. This works both ways as Paul reminds us in Galatians above. When we choose to live to please the Spirit of God, our lives will reflect that blessing as well. One of the passages that my wife and I were directed to by God before we started our ministry journey is Matthew 19:29, “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.” That’s a crop I can’t wait to harvest.