The Sower and The Seed

Conduct has consequences. Throughout the Bible, sowing is used as a metaphor for one’s actions and reaping for the results of those actions. There is an old agricultural axiom supportive of this reality. It goes like this. You reap what you sow. You reap more than you sow. You reap later than you sow. Consider:

You reap what you sow. A farmer never expects corn when cotton is planted. Why should we sow bitterness and expect to harvest kindness, or hate and expect to harvest love?

Paul the Apostle writes: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.” He goes on to instruct us to “sow to please the spirit” rather than the flesh, indicating that a spiritual life will result in reward.

What crop are you going to sow today?

You reap more than you sow. A single grain of corn sewn can produce 800 or more kernels. 

People sometimes feel like this law of multiplication is unfair. They make a few bad decisions, and when life falls apart, they think, “Well, I know I haven’t always made the wisest decisions, but I don’t deserve all this.”

However, what they are experiencing is probably not punishment; it is harvest. The law of the harvest doesn’t operate according to exact proportions. Seeds don’t stay seeds.

Sowing doesn’t just produce more, it often produces better. 

You reap later than you sow. This disconnect of time often causes persons not to associate the actions with the result. Because of the nine months between impregnation and birth the Aborigines of Australia have never associate the two. 

Consider some of the things you are experiencing today, and to what past action they may relate. Likewise, consider today’s actions and to what result they may lead. In light of this, be kind to your tomorrow self.