The Plumbline

Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. (Galatians 6:7-9) Successful people 'do' consistently what others 'do' occasionally. It may come as a surprise to some, but we have to intentionally prioritize whatever it is we want to realize in our lives. Intentions don't always determine our end results, do they? We can have great intentions but miserable results. Consistent actions are what determines 'success', not just great intentions. We start by doing the smallest of 'right' things, then we add to those some slightly bigger 'right' things until we one day see change happening....

The return we reap from generous actions is not always evident. (Francesco Guicciardini) Give freely, and you will profit. Help others, and you will gain more for yourself. (Proverbs11:25) The actions of sowing and reaping are well-established. The seed is put into the ground, the harvest is tended, then it is reaped, allowing for provision today and into the future. If the one sowing stopped sowing, would the harvest end? Eventually, for natural 'reseeding' occurs to some extent, but to yield a sustainable crop for generations to come, one must purposefully plant.  The purposeful actions of today will produce a harvest well into the future, but all that is sown must be tended. We might share the hope of the gospel, but are we always the ones to tend it? No, there is usually some 'tending' done by someone other than us - perhaps the Holy Spirit alone, or perhaps he will engage another who will refresh the soil of the heart time and time again until that 'seed of fai...