September 1
Scripture focus: Don't be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others--ignoring God!--harvests a crop of weeds. All he'll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God's Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. Galatians 6:7-8 (The Message)
One obvious boundary basic is the principle of sowing and reaping. We reap what we sow. Years ago I made the decision to plant wild flowers in my yard. That turned out to be a poor gardening decision. Those wild flowers look a lot prettier planted on a hill beside a busy highway than they do sprouting up around my azaleas. But here's the thing -- 18 years later, I'm still reaping what I sowed. We can't manage to keep grass, shrubs or roses alive, but those wild flowers keep popping up -- year after year after year.
Every few weeks I have to go pluck those offensive shoots out of my garden, but I do so without an ounce of regret. They provide a visual reminder that I will reap what I sow.
Boundary haters might say that this is unfair, or that God is punishing them when a mistake sown reaps a crop of consequences. That interpretation of events, however, does not jive with God's character. In Galatians, the writer isn't saying that God hangs from the heavenlies waiting to punish us for a mis-step.
This passage is actually showing us a boundary -- we reap what we sow. Our actions have consequences. This isn't a threat, it's a prediction. It's a warning. It's a reminder to each of us that we are responsible for our emotions, attitudes and actions. And we will harvest in keeping with our sowing.
This isn't a harsh God warning of dire retribution for bad behaving. This is our loving heavenly Father, gently reminding us through the words of the Apostle Paul -- be careful how you manage your life, because you will live with your management choices.
May we sow wisely today! In the meantime, I've got to go pluck some weeds out of my garden. I thank God that this serves as a small reminder to me that my choices matter. My actions have consequences.
Recommended reading: 1 Chronicles 25-29
3 comments:
This brings me back to a Teresa trueism "everything we do matters". I am a garden of fuzzy or unboundried sowing. The difference for me today is I can tell the difference between my wild flowers and His gift of flowers. I am finding that the more of my wild flowers I pull from the garden, the more He replaces them with His flowers. This is not to say that I am not still holding on the some of my "really pretty" flowers or that I do not replant some after they have been pulled. I have found a community of gardeners that lovingly point out some of my wilder flowers or will offer me a gift flower that was given to them.They also see some of these gift flowers I have recieved before I do. It is hardest for me to see the wild flowers I have planted in others folks garden growing as wild as mine did. At this point, all I can do is turn them over to the Master Gardener.
I know enough about flowers,May God bless you and offer you a gift of flowers today.
That was absolutely beautiful, "I Might Be Wrong"! A great follow through and, since I am a visual person, this has created a wonderful picture. Thank you for your lovely insight!
I, too, am a visual person. I'm not a home owner but I pretty much figure that once weeds are planted, it takes deep digging to pull out the roots and all, which is difficult to do, so we pull them little by little until they are free and clear of where they were planted. Then we don't have to worry about them again. Pretty much how recovery is, it takes time, little by little until we're free. God bless you as He continues to do a mighty work in your lives.
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