Daily Devotional

Sowing and Reaping

by Justin Linscheid on June 23, 2022

 “…You will always harvest what you plant… 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 

I reached into the refrigerator to grab the orange juice container and noticed this expression on the carton: “Put good in, get good out”. This was meant in a nutritional context, but it made me think about the spiritual concept of sowing and reaping that is mentioned in the Bible.

The Bible does not teach the law of spiritual karma and rebirth that ensures we will always get good when we do good or always get bad when we do bad. The Bible teaches that sometimes the wicked prosper, at least for a season. And sometimes a person who does good is persecuted or suffers trials. Furthermore, God is gracious, and often gives us goodness that we do not deserve, such as the gracious forgiveness He offers to sinners who trust in Jesus Christ. Yet, the broad application of sowing and reaping is legitimate when we consider that we have been given personal responsibility by God and what we get out of life is often what we put in.

A farmer reaps the same as he has sown. If he plants wheat, wheat comes up. If he plants apple seeds, it would be nothing short of a miracle if a watermelon was produced instead. What is harvested is what is planted. Allow me to suggest an application of this principle in one area.

I was recently reading a book that mentioned a study that found TV often consumes the lion’s share of our free time. I’m not surprised. For the average American, that is over 5 hours a day, or 35 hours a week. For young people, even more time is spent on social media and scrolling on the phone.

In this “free time” we are sowing seeds. What we allow into our minds is planting seeds in the soul. That would be good news if all of the content on TV was spiritually edifying and encouraged us to live within God’s will, but on the contrary, much of media content is contrary to the life God wants us to experience and the people He desires us to become.

I’m not suggesting that you have to throw out your TV altogether. Just a take a moment to consider, what kind of seeds have I been planting? What should I expect to harvest as a result? Am I planting plenty of good seeds that come from hiding God’s word in the soil of my heart?

Sometimes this world can make us weary of doing good. But keep planting those good seeds and be patient for their growth. Don’t get weary of doing good. You will harvest what you plant.

Previous Page