Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to attend our Adult Bible Fellowship, second hour down in the fellowship hall. It’s a rare occurrence for me since I’m usually preaching.  The lesson for the week was about “sowing and reaping,” which was part of the winter study on the metaphors of Scripture. I had a great time participating and it was a timely discussion since Spring is on its way.  I’ve noticed that farmers in our area are already plowing their fields. I’ve also been keeping an eye on my own garden, knowing that I need to begin cultivating the soil soon.

Back when I was living in Virginia, I also had a garden, but the soil was poor. When the contractor built the development in the 1960s, they scraped off every ounce of topsoil, leaving almost nothing behind. So, my garden was little more than a patch of red clay. However, every year I made an effort to improve the soil. I’d buy bags of topsoil when they went on sale at Lowes, grow a cover crop and keep an eye out for discarded compost and potting soil. My most significant effort, though, was mulching leaves. I would rake my leaves, and sometimes the neighbors’, and then mulch them to till into my garden patch.

One year, I made a rookie mistake. We had a lovely mimosa tree in our front yard, and after a stunning summer bloom, hundreds of seed pods formed on its branches. These pods were the last to fall off the tree in the fall, and usually didn’t create a problem. But this fateful year, I hadn’t gotten the raking done before they fell. I was busy and, in a hurry, and unfortunately didn’t think twice about raking, mulching, and dumping both leaves and seeds into my garden.

Boy, was I in for a surprise the next spring when I planted my garden! Along with my tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, and green beans came a thousand little mimosa trees. It almost ruined my harvest. Every time I pulled out a mimosa seedling, I disrupted a garden plant. I learned the hard way that you reap what you sow!

Galatians 6:7-8 reminds us that …

” A man reaps what he sows. 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.”

Most often we don’t think of our choices in terms of sowing, reaping and an upcoming harvest.  If we don’t see our sin affecting others, we tend to rationalize and excuse it away.  We think, “Well, no one knows about it and I’m not hurting anyone. [or] It’s just a little thing.” But our sinful thoughts, choices and actions aren’t just deeds, they’re seeds.  And bad seed planted in good soil reaps a bad harvest.  I’ve lived long enough to see the results of deeply imbedded unaddressed sin in the life of a believer.  The roots of those sprouted seeds can limit, disrupt, and destroy many of the good things in life.

But the same is true in a good sense.  And I take great comfort in that.  Every kindness and act of love; every God honoring choice and selfless deed will reap an eternal harvest. We can count on it.

That’s why the Bible goes on to say,

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

So, let’s be lavish in sowing good seed.  The more we sow, the more we’ll reap!  And let’s be diligent in rooting out the works of the flesh.  They yield a bitter harvest and will affect us more in the future than we can possibly know.