Sow Eternally

There's a deep agricultural principle woven throughout Scripture that directly relates to our daily lives: whatever we plant, we will eventually harvest. This isn't just about gardening—it's about the eternal significance of our everyday choices.

The Foolishness of Preaching

God has chosen what the world considers foolish—preaching—to save those who believe. This raises an important question: How can people hear unless someone tells them? The spoken word carries power. While our lives should reflect Christ in everything we do, at some point, we must open our mouths and speak the gospel truth.

But here's the beautiful part: we're not just called to hear the word; we're called to be doers of it. Every time we open Scripture—whether in a church service, Bible study, or personal devotion—there should be something we take away and apply to our lives. The Word of God is living and active, meeting us exactly where we are in our spiritual journey.

You Cannot Fool God

Galatians 6 gives us a sobering reminder: "Don't be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows, he will also reap." We might fool ourselves, but we cannot fool God. The work we do for His kingdom will receive a payday. What we put in, we will get out.

There's a significant difference between reading the Bible and studying it. Reading is simply picking it up and going through the words. Studying means digging deeper—asking what the passage means, understanding the historical context, inviting the Holy Spirit to illuminate truth. It takes the Holy Spirit to help us understand what a holy God has written.

Consider this: people imprisoned in countries hostile to Christianity have clung to half a verse—a fragment of Scripture—and found salvation through that single piece of God's Word. If God can use half a verse to transform a life, imagine what He can do when we consistently engage with His Word, even if it's just one verse a day.

The Harvest of Flesh Versus Spirit

The crop we plant will inevitably sprout into a harvest. The critical question is: what are we sowing? If we're flesh-focused—more concerned with our comfort, desires, and personal works—we're sowing seeds that lead to destruction and death. The flesh and the Spirit are at war with one another. We cannot serve two masters.

We need a spiritual agricultural inspection from time to time. Are we producing the right fruit? The flesh produces destruction, but the Spirit leads to life—eternal life that we don't have to wait for. We can experience God's abundant life right here and now. We can wake up and say it's a good day even when circumstances suggest otherwise, because we have hope anchored in something beyond this world.

Keep Pressing On

Doing good can be exhausting. Swimming against the current of culture feels like fighting thousands of gallons of water pushing against you. The majority of the world doesn't think the way followers of Christ do. Even many within the church have twisted biblical truth to accommodate cultural preferences.

This is why rest is so important. Jesus withdrew to pray and be with the Father. God established the Sabbath for a reason. Perhaps one of the most important things we could commit to is learning how to truly Sabbath—to stop the daily grind, let our bodies and minds rest, and focus on God.

Working a field and bringing in a harvest isn't easy. Anyone who's tended even a small garden knows the constant work required. But if everything goes right—and with God, everything will go right—eventually you'll see a harvest.

God constantly brings new fields into our lives—people who need someone to help clear the weeds, remove the rocks, and prepare the soil. Your job might be to plant the seed by sharing the gospel. You might be called to water through discipleship and relationship. If you're blessed, you might get to help bring in the harvest. But make no mistake: only God can truly bring the harvest. Only the Holy Spirit can bring salvation.

The hardest part? Waiting for the proper time. We want immediate results. We want to deposit a dollar and see a million the next day. But spiritual investment takes time. And the amount we invest matters. Are we dropping pennies or pouring out millions spiritually?

Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

Don't get caught up in external issues. Throughout church history, believers have argued over things that ultimately don't matter for salvation. The details that truly count are the ones that change who we are internally.

It's all about Jesus and the new life in Him. We cannot brag about our accomplishments, but we can boast about what Jesus has done through the cross. The cross frees us from sin and death and brings us into abundant life.

Here's a sobering truth: there will be people who attended church every time the doors opened, gave faithfully, served on committees, and knew a lot about Jesus—but never truly knew Him. They never fully surrendered their lives to Christ. And the most terrifying words in Scripture are these: "Depart from me, I never knew you."

Get Jesus right, and everything else will fall into place. When your life is truly transformed by Christ, serving Him becomes an overflow of your heart, not an obligation or checklist.

The Question That Matters

So what are you sowing today? Are you more concerned with the things of this world or with eternal matters? We all have to live in this world—pay bills, work jobs, handle responsibilities. But even in those daily tasks, we can sow eternally rather than temporally.

The harvest will come. Keep working the field. Keep planting good seeds. And trust that in the proper time, God will bring the increase.