Category: Blog

Because of the extraordinarily rainy spring we have had, many farmers haven’t been able to get their crops planted in a more desirable timeframe. This brought to my mind the inexorable law of sowing and reaping.  What you sow, you reap. This truth not only applies agriculturally, it applies to our lives. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal 5:7-8).

One of the beauties of natural laws is that they do not change. Every part of the material universe is built on laws. They are consistent; they do not vary. Similarly, there are absolute and unchanging moral laws consistent with the nature of the Creator and His creation.

To one degree or another, most people misunderstand the consequences of their sinful thoughts and behaviors.  Even Christians are deceived—so focused on being under God’s grace that we act as though we can sin without natural consequences.  Scripture is clear: Christians should not continue to sin that grace may abound (Rom 6:1).  We are deceiving ourselves when we think there is not a consequence, and that the natural law will not apply.

If one plants seeds in the flesh, the harvest will be unrighteousness.  “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these” (Gal 6:19-21). Do not be deceived. This warning is echoed in Numbers 32:33: “Be sure that your sins will find you out.”

Even Christians have the remaining sinful tendencies that continue to lead us astray.  Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things.”  We deceive ourselves, and that turns into a license to do what we want, promoting unholy living in the name of grace.

If you are a Christian, you have a choice.  You can walk in the Spirit or you can walk in the flesh. Do not think for a moment that you can walk in the flesh and not pay the consequence. “God is not mocked.”

This principle works in the positive as well as in the negative.  “If we walk by the Spirit, you will not carry out the desire of the flesh” (Gal 5:16).  And the fruit of a life cultivated by walking in the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness (Gal 5:22). If you walk in the Spirit, or sow to the Spirit, you will reap the fruit of the Spirit.  The fruit is what is experienced; you will harvest those virtues. If you sow in the Spirit, your harvest is holiness.

Instead of sowing division, sow peace; instead of anger, patience; instead of inconsistency, faithfulness. “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us let us do good to all people” (Gal 6:9).

It’s amazing to me how even a few notes from a song can immediately bring back memories or suggest strong emotions. Just think of the theme from Rocky, a true classic. In just a moment, you can go from miserably sad to incredibly triumphant, joyful and victorious. The metaphors contained in the Bible contain similar emotions for me. Metaphors help Christians think of our biblical identity—a child of the kingdom, children of the light, sheep, soldiers, ambassadors, salt and light or even strangers and aliens. Those metaphors help us to have a robust understanding of who we are and how we fit into God’s plan—now and in the days ahead.

One of my favorites is an overcomer. God wants us, His children, to view ourselves as overcomers. A form of the word overcomer is used 28 times in the New Testament. How should followers of Jesus Christ view themselves in an increasingly hostile world that rejects the person and work of Christ and his words? We are to overcome. Paul tells us, “But One in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

The promise of Scripture is that if you know Christ as Savior and Lord, you will overcome the world. That idea was true for those in the first century church, where false teachers prevailed and teachers denied the atoning work of Christ. They were overcomers through intense persecution. Even in the midst of that, they could confidently say that they were overcomers. The same can be true for us. John tells us “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4).

Some say we are at a time in history similar to the description given in the book of Judges—everyone did what was right in his or her own eyes. We may be at a moment as described in Romans chapter 1, during which God gives people “over to their lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever” (Romans 1:24-25).

Yet for those of us who repent and believe, “He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13). He makes us citizens of heaven. “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).
“And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life” (1 John 5:11-12).

What a glorious gift God has given to us—to think of ourselves, not as triumphant overcomers in and of ourselves, but as overcomers because of what Christ has done in and through us.