Galatians 6:7-8 (NIV)
7 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.
Hosea 10:12-13 (NIV)
12 Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord,
until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.
13 But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil,
you have eaten the fruit of deception.
Because you have depended on your own strength
and on your many warriors,
Job 4:8 (NIV)
8 As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.
Proverbs 11:18 (NIV)
18 A wicked person earns deceptive wages,
but the one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.
James 3:18 (NIV)
18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
2 Corinthians 9:6-11 (NIV)
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written:
“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”[a]
10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
Galatians 6:9 (NIV)
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.
Proverbs 20:4 (NIV)
4 Sluggards do not plow in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing.
What Seeds Are You Planting?
I was blessed to spend my childhood years growing up on a farm. You see my dad was a farmer, so my siblings and I always had lots of farm chores to do. One of which was helping in the garden each year. From that experience I learned something quite valuable, and that was whatever you harvested during the harvest season, was totally based on the type of seeds that you had planted during the planting season. During those years of living on the farm, I never once saw my dad plant corn and harvest cucumbers, or plant a pear tree that harvested peaches.
Another interesting thing that I noticed when working in our garden planting corn, is that one kernel of corn would produce a stalk with several ears of corn on it, from which many kernels would yield at harvesting time. The lesson here is that whatever we plant is usually multiplied and returned back to us during harvesting season, and that’s another good reason to only sow good seeds.
Ladies the Law of Sowing and Reaping is real. My advice to you, is watch what you sow, because it will return to you in great abundance, and it will be when you least expect it. Sometimes it takes years but the reaping season is inevitable.
The type of seeds that we sow into the lives of others are so important. Whatever you do, sow seeds of love and encouragement and generosity. Stay away from the seeds that bring negative consequences or a negative harvest.
Sowing seeds of discord, strife, selfishness, gossip, hatred, and unrighteousness will only come back to you in a harvest that will measure more abundantly than you initially sowed. Ask yourself, can I live with a tenfold harvest of what I have been planting? If the answer is no way, then maybe the next course of action should be to start planting better seeds.
The Law of Sowing and Reaping says that what you sow must come back to you. Just as you are sure that the sun will rise and set each day, be just as sure that what you sow you will reap. If you sow well you will receive good and if you sow evil you will reap evil back.
We all have planted bad seeds, forgetting that someday they would grow into a full grown plant. If we ask God for forgiveness for the bad seeds that we have planted, He will certainly forgive us, but there are still consequences for our behavior and those consequences are the harvest.
I am sure that we all know people who have not connected the dots yet, when it comes to the direct correlation between what they are reaping with the seeds that they have planted. Let’s be wise spiritual farmers and be selective as to what seeds we choose to plant in our spiritual gardens, because harvest time will surely come.