Sowing and Reaping

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. 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. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:1-10 ESV). British prime minister Herbert Asquith once spent a weekend at the Waddesdon estate of the 19th-century Rothschild family. One day, as Asquith was being waited on at teatime by the butler, the following conversation ensued: “Tea, coffee, or a peach from off the wall, sir?” “Tea, please,” answered Asquith. “China, India, or Ceylon, sir?” asked the butler. “China, please.” “Lemon, milk, or cream, sir?” “Milk, please,” replied Asquith. “Jersey, Hereford, or Shorthorn, sir?” asked the butler. One of the phrases I have often used in teaching responsible choices is that you get what you get because you went where you went. The words of Eleanor Roosevelt ring true: “One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words. It is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.” The Bible clearly teaches that we reap what we sow. Someone has written the “chapters of a healthy life making good choices: • Chapter 1: I walk down a street and there's a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. It takes forever to get out. It's my fault. • Chapter 2: I walk down the same street. I fall in the hole again. It still takes a long time to get out. It's not my fault. • Chapter 3: I walk down the same street. I fall in the hole again. It's becoming a habit. It is my fault. I get out immediately. • Chapter 4: I walk down the same street and see the deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it. • Chapter 5: I walk down a different street. Who are you living for? What is driving the choices in your life? Turn toward Him the direction and power to make good choices today. Perhaps its time to walk down another street! Today is the eve of walking down another street!