Sowing and Reaping: Eternal Life

Intro:
There is real life waiting for you today. You can choose to see through your eyes and not just with them. You can choose to hear with your heart not just your ears. You can choose to see God at work or miss it.

You have a choice to make.

"A city full of churches
Great preacher, lettered men,
Grand music, choirs and organs;
If all these fail, what then?
Good workers, eager, earnest,
Who labour hour by hour:
But where, oh where, my brother,
Is God's Almighty power?

It is the Holy Spirit,
That quickeneth the soul.
God will not take man-worship,
Nor bow to man's control.
No human innovation,
No skill, or worldly art,
Can give a true repentance,
Or break the sinner's heart.

Great God, revive us truly!
And keep us every day;
That men may all acknowledge,
We live just as we pray.
The Lord's hand is not shortened,
He still delights to bless;
If we depart from evil,
And all our sins confess."

Samuel Stevenson

Read: Galatians 6:7-10
7 Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 Let us not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we don’t give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let’s do what is good toward all men, and especially toward those who are of the household of the faith.

Think:
If we sow to the Holy Spirit we WILL reap eternal life. This is a life that exists on heaven but also on earth. It is the life we are meant to know in part here and fully in heaven.

The one who is continually sowing to the Spirit is experiencing life everlasting as he/she sows ... here ... now! That is a great promise.

The word for life, zoe, refers to life at its core. It is not a reference to physical life, there is a different word for that (bios). It is a word that refers to the "principle of life", the essence of things, the soulishness of us. This is life as it is meant to be.

We get to experience this if we sow to the Spirit consistently.

I want to rescue this verse from the negative light it is always cast in. Normally when we hear sermons on "You reap what you sow" it is focused on the negative. I do not think I have heard a sermon in over 20 years as a Christian talking about the positive in this verse.

Sure, if you sow to your flesh you will reap corruption BUT there remains a verse right after this one! If you sow to the Spirit you will reap eternal life! Both are available to me. I want to hear a sermon on that! I want to hear the preacher say there is a real opportunity to know the Spirit of God in power and intimacy. There is a real likelihood of knowing some of heaven on earth. There is a way to know real life and purpose through the Holy Spirit today.

Do:
Do you walk in newness of life? Are you experiencing the fruit of that life? It is easy to test and see:

1. How loving are you toward others?

2. How's your joy? Not happiness, joy!

3. Are you at peace with God, yourself, others?

4. Do you have an abundance of patience for others?

See Galatians 5:22-23 for more!

Yesterday we looked at what it means to sow to the Spirit. You might want to check that out if you missed it.

DevoLink: Devotions to help you Link with God.