Small steps over time

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. It is what happens OVER TIME that reveals success or failure.

Three laws of reaping: 1) You reap what you sow; 2) You reap more than you sow; and 3) You reap only after you sow. We might have gotten a little ahead of ourselves if we didn't take the smaller steps, expecting a huge harvest, but not seeing much growth at all. Sow to the flesh and you shouldn't be surprised to reap a greater harvest of flesh. Fleshly seeds will reap more and more sin in our lives - not as a punishment, but simply as a 'natural harvest' of what was planted. If we don't like what we have been harvesting, it is time to change the seeds we are sowing!

God multiplies what we sow. When we do the small 'right' things, we see a harvest beyond the size of the 'seed' we have sown. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. If the seeds we have been sowing haven't produced a good harvest, it is time to change the seed and see what God will do with it! Remember this - our life is the sum total of the actions we take - good, bad, all of them. When we 'identify' with the wrong we have done, we might not see any other 'seed' as possible. When we allow God to change where our focus is and identify with the 'Christ-seed' that is within us, we might just begin to see a different harvest! Just sayin!

Purposeful, not random

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 faith' is properly germinated. Either way, the seed only germinates because it is tended.

We can give a lot out of our lives - what gets tended will yield the biggest 'crop'. It may not always be evident how much we are tending the crop in another's life, but when there are purposeful actions to love one another as Christ loves each of us, there is sure to be a germination of grace and love in the process. What is reaped will not always be evident for the 'purposeful seeds' we plant, though. Sometimes we see a harvest way different from what we expected!

God trusts us to be 'generous in our sowing' - he gave grace so freely, so we give freely from that position of grace. Let there be purpose behind your actions, my friends. When there is purposeful giving, there is purposeful reaping. Random 'seeding' is fine if we want a 'random' harvest. Purposeful planting yeilds a predetermined harvest. Just sayin!