There are many wonderful lessons we can learn from the law of sowing and reaping. Jesus and the Apostles used them in their teachings during their time and are recoded in the Holy Bible for our learning and practice. "Whatever we sow that is what will reap" They were using these illustrations (parables) to teach us how to live in peace with one another and with God, and also to warn us of the consequences when we fail to do so.
Natural law tells us that if we sow orange seeds, orange trees will sprout out. And from one orange tree, we will reap dozens of orange fruits and hundreds of orange seeds. That orange tree will only produce orange fruits and orange seeds, and not apples or apple seeds.
This law applies to our moral and spiritual lives as well. The Bible says,
"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows" (Galatians 6:7).
"Don't be mislead; remember that you can't ignore God and get away with it: a man will always reap the kind crop he sows.
If he sows to please his own wrong desires, he will be planting seeds of evil and he will surely reap a harvest of spiritual decay and death; but if he plants the good things of the Spirit, he will reap the everlasting life which the Holy Spirit gives him.
And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't get discouraged and give up" (Galatians 6:7-9).
If we criticize others we will also reap much criticism from others. If we spread gossip we will also reap much gossip from others.
Similarly, if we spread love and goodwill among people we will reap much love and goodwill from others as time goes on, provided we don't give up too soon.
"Never criticize or condemn -- or it will all come back to you. Go easy on others; then they will do the same for you" (Luke 6:37)
Jesus says these words,
"Do for others what you want them to do for you" (Matthew 7:12).
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy" (Matthew 5:7).
"Love your enemies! Do good to them! And don't be concerned about the fact that they won't repay. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you truly be acting as sons of God; for He is kind to the unthankful and to those who are wicked. If you give, you will get! Your gift will return to you in full and overflowing measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use to give -- large or small -- will be used to measure what is given back to you."
The Bible also says,
"It is possible to give away and become richer! It is also possible to hold on too tightly and lose everything. The liberal man shall be rich! By watering others, he waters himself" (Proverbs 11:24-25).
"The Lord is watching everywhere and keeps his eye on both evil and good" (Proverbs 15:3).
Therefore, let us be careful what we sow. Let us practice sowing good seeds. You may be asking, "What are some morally and spiritually good seeds and bad seeds?"
Some good seeds are: Love, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, showing mercy, generosity, compassion, friendliness, unselfishness, humility and many more.
These are godly principles.
Some bad seeds are: Criticizing, hating, violence, discord, gossiping, selfishness, pride, malice, slander, backbiting, inciting to do evil, creating conflicts, jealousy, envy, sexual immorality, injustice, creating distrust among people, planning ways to start a fight and so on.
"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light, and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter" (Isaiah 5:20).
"Woe to those ... who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent" (Isaiah 5:23).
"Deceit fills the hearts that are planning evil; joy fills the hearts that are planning good!" (Proverbs 12:20)
Therefore, let us sow godly principles and not the ungodly principles.
But you may be saying just as the Apostle Paul wrote, 'I want to do these good things but I can't. I go and do the opposite thing anyway'.
"We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do -- this I keep on doing.
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:14-24)
Yes, it is impossible for us to do all these good deeds in our own strength. We need God's help.
For that we need to establish a relationship with God. We could only do it through Jesus Christ.
Apostle Paul continues, that this life is through the Spirit:
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God" (Romans 8:1-8).
For example: No one can drive a car by standing outside the car. He has to get inside the car and take control of the driver's seat (the control center).
Similarly, we have to receive Jesus into our lives and surrender the control center of our lives to Him so that He can help us live the kind of life that pleases God. We don't earn salvation by doing good works but we do them because we are saved to do good works,
"For by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this not from yourselves, it is a gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).
We could add nothing to what Jesus had done on the cross to earn our salvation. Then you may ask, why should we do good deeds? The Bible says, we do them because
"We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10).
So we don't take any credit or boast about the good deeds we do.
Remember it is by faith we receive Jesus Christ, and it is also by faith we walk with Him and allow Him to control and empower our lives.
"So then, just as you received Jesus Christ as Lord (by faith), continue to live in Him (by faith)."
If you sincerely desire to live in peace with one another and with God, here is how you could receive Jesus Christ into your life as your Savior and Lord. Then learn to walk in the Spirit moment by moment, as explained in the message, "How to experience the abundant life Jesus promised?"