Here in Nebraska, we all understand the law of seedtime and harvest. We know when to plant and when to reap, and we certainly know what to plant if we want a particular result. You don’t need a Ph.D. in agriculture to know that if you plant corn, you’ll get corn—not cantaloupes. If you plant beans, you’ll get beans, and if you plant wheat, you’ll get wheat. God’s laws work the same way. Ken Boles once observed, “God’s moral and spiritual laws work in the same way. You cannot sow sin and reap righteousness, or indulgence and reap health, or strife and reap peace. You cannot sow ‘the works of the flesh’ and reap ‘the fruit of the Spirit.’” As simple as that sounds, I confess that I sometimes plant one thing and expect something entirely different to grow. Spoiler alert—it never does! My dad had a favorite saying for such moments: “Don’t kid yourself.” That’s exactly what Paul says in Galatians 6:7: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” Growing up—and growing wise—means learning to live by that unbending truth.
We grow exactly what we plant, but there’s more to this farming metaphor than meets the eye. Not only do we reap what we sow, but we also reap more than we sow. One kernel of corn produces hundreds of kernels at harvest time. Paul reminds us of this in 2 Corinthians 9:6: “…whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” Unfortunately, this principle applies to both good and bad crops. If we plant weeds of selfishness, bitterness, or gossip, we shouldn’t be surprised when our garden looks more like a thistle patch than a flowerbed. Galatians 6:8 puts it bluntly: “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” The size of the harvest always outpaces the size of the seed—so choose your seeds carefully!
The return is always greater than the investment. That’s why the old saying, “Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind,” rings so true. It comes from Hosea 8:7: “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” The New Living Translation puts it this way: “They have planted the wind and will harvest the whirlwind.” That’s quite a return on bad seed! Thankfully, the reverse is also true. When we sow to the Spirit, we harvest a crop of eternal life. The flesh instinctively sows to self-gratification—it ruins people and relationships alike. But the Spirit sows love, which blossoms into genuine, abundant life. It’s a harvest that begins now and lasts forever. So take it from both Paul and my dad: Don’t kid yourself!