Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Sowing To The Flesh: Its' Effects

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 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.” Galatians 6:7-8

I’m tired of being deceived. And I know the reason that Paul says not to be deceived is because he KNOWS how deceptive sowing to our flesh really is. It FEELS good and even when we hesitate, often the FEELING is enough to cause us to come up with any excuse to maintain it. Anyone who’s been addicted to anything, even something like coffee, knows how this works when you try to quit. Anyone who has been in a fight with someone they love knows that you stop caring about the relationship and begin caring more about being right and FEELING valued. When our flesh craves a FEELING, we in turn sow to it to keep that feeling alive. Paul says such sowing to the flesh, although it is natural because we love the feeling of it, leads to a harvest of CORRUPTION. I heard a guy say recently, “If you don’t like what you getting in life, then take a look at what you are sowing into it!! Do you have a relationship that’s messed up? Take a look at what you are sowing into it. Do you struggle with loving God’s Word? What are you sowing in to it? Do you struggle in sharing the Gospel? How are you sowing? It’s just a principle that will never change. You will reap a harvest depending on what you sow.”

A few weeks ago I started having all these doubts about God. I KNEW there were things I needed to repent of in my life but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to let go of them. I began wondering why I was having all these doubts and struggling with repentance/giving everything to God. Then I remembered what the guy had said about how if you don’t like what you’re getting in your life, take a look at what you’re sowing. The doubts I was having seemed like valid points at the time especially from the perspective of worldly wisdom. So I told myself, “Patrick, you may not understand everything right and you may have doubts and you may struggle repenting, but you ARE going to stop sowing foolishly! You’re going to sow to the Spirit and stop sowing to the flesh and then wait and see what happens to your harvest.” AMAZINGLY ENOUGH, I began reaping a harvest FROM THE SPIRIT just like the Word says. Now I realize that the doubts I was having may be things I never fully understand the answers to but such doubts can only be silenced BY THE SPIRIT. The power I needed to silence my doubts and give me the desire and power to repent could only come from the Spirit (never from me) and it wasn’t until I started sowing TO the Spirit that I began reaping a harvest FROM the Spirit. My heart began growing in TRUSTING God and DESIRE for repentance and restoration with Him. I found out it’s actually true! You actually do reap what you sow! My sowing to the flesh can be easily described by just living for ME, MY OWN PLANS, MY OWN DESIRES, MAINTAINING MY OWN COMFORTABLE LIFE. It doesn’t have to be something we view as serious like drugs or sex. It’s always a matter of the heart. Was my heart desiring my own comfort most or was it desiring God no matter what? It was desiring my own comfort and carrying out my own plans. It began corrupting me and my life began to be filled with doubts and I found myself not trusting God at all.

I remember well the feeling of not wanting to repent. It’s SO scary to be in that place and I don’t want to be there again. I felt my heart being hardened and it wasn’t until the harvest from the Spirit came, that I had the power/desire to repent. If any of us has doubts, we have to realize that these can only be answered by the Spirit and we have to willing to exercise FAITH by just plain SOWING SEEDS to the Spirit! Then we can wait and see what HARVEST we will reap and our faith will end up growing!

This harvest from the Spirit is grace and what I'm learning is that GRACE is like a precious cloak and it’s not meant to be WALKED ON like it’s nothing. When I sow to flesh in a cavalier manner, I'm just walking on the cloak of grace like it’s just cheap doormat. The cloak of grace is meant to put on daily with fear and trembling because of HOW PRECIOUS IT IS! I haven’t been wearing grace like this. When I trample on grace – when I know a certain sowing to flesh is wrong but I don’t care and do it anyway – I GRIEVE the Spirit and my heart begins being hardened.

BUT. If I sow the Spirit, I WILL reap a harvest that is LASTING! ETERNAL LIFE will come alive in my heart and in time will be birthed a desire for God that cannot come from anywhere except FROM THE SPIRIT. This is a PRECIOUS GRACE.