Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap

A few Sundays back, in our Bible study class, we had a discussion regarding the law (in general) which has sort of got me to thinking about the subject and started my editorial juices flowing. Since I haven't done an editorial on the topic of "law" for quite some time, I thought perhaps it's due time to do so.

Now we all recognize that we must have laws. We frequently hear mentioned the phrase "law and order" and, if you think about the structure of that phrase, it's worded in the appropriate order, isn't it? You have law first and then order follows. Or, look at it from the opposite direction: no law - no order. In other words, without law there would be chaos.

Of course, having a law necessitates some form of enforcement or it's worthless. We can have all the laws in the world, but if they're not enforced, what good are they? And man has lots of laws on the books with more coming out of some government entity every day. Some are good, some are "EH?" and some are downright stupid. But, here again, it's man writing them so what can you expect.

Unlike man, God has written some laws and all of them are good. What say we talk about His laws for a few minutes, especially one in particular. You remember, for Israel, God wrote the Ten Commandments which was the basis for the Law of Moses and this was the governing law until it was superceded by Christ's Law. When Jesus came to earth as the Messiah to the Jews and the Savior of all mankind, His crucifixion and resurrection ushered in a new Covenant, a new Law. (Heb. 8:6-13)

The aforementioned "particular" law that I'd like us to spend a little time looking at today is found within this "new Covenant." Even though we find it in the New Testament, actually it's universal to all the dispensations of time. Here's the law of which I speak, the one I'd like you to consider with me today. We read this law in Gal. 6:7 "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

I once saw an illustration that said that the words of this law "should be written in flaming letters on the portal of eternity." I thought at the time, "What a neat conception" and I still think it to be a great idea.

The essence of this law, as God wrote it via the hand of Paul, is seen in the similitude of planting and harvesting crops. Now I'm not a farmer, although I've been known to grow some mighty fine chili peppers, but I do understand the concept of what you plant is what grows and what grows is what's harvested. So, pursuing God's use of farming in showing us the gist of this law, let's see what kind of crops we can plant.

Just a few verses before the penning of our law under discussion, Paul gave us the characteristics, IE: the seeds, of two distinctly different crops. In Gal. 5:19-21 we see the makeup of our first crop. "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries and the like, of which I tell you before hand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." (NKJV)

I'd like you to notice some things about this crop. First, it's easily recognizable, or as Paul says, it's "evident." And next, remember what I said earlier about the universality of this law? Notice in verse 20 that the words "in times past" indicate exactly that. It also tells us that the planters of this crop, in a manner of speaking, will not make it to God's granary, IE: "will not inherit..."

Now, lets take a look at the other crop described by Paul that we can sow and reap. Still in Gal. 5, let's read verses 22-23 together: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law." (NKJV) The last part of verse 23 simply means that for "crops" of this nature there would never be any opposition or law against them.

Wouldn't you agree with me that this last mentioned crop would be the one to make it into God's granary? In paraphrasing Hebrews 6:7-8 wouldn't you say that those who "cultivate" crops of this nature are the ones to "receive blessings from God?" And, on the other hand, those who "cultivate" crops of "thorns and briers" will be "cursed and burned?"

In wrapping up our little study of this law and, hopefully, gaining a better understanding of it, I think it should cause us to be better farmers and better "cultivators" because we know what manner of "seeds" to sow, thus we know what type of harvest we'll reap. When we thoroughly understand the essence of the "law of harvest" we should desire to be wise and obedient farmers, don't ya think?

Especially when we also know and understand who the "reapers" are and what happens to the crops they harvest. You can read about the harvest time and who the reapers will be in Matt. 13:41-42. I'll just close with the statement that it's my goal to have my crop acceptable to God and thereby blessed by Him. Rather than being "cast into the furnace of fire."

One last thought. Since there are two "portals" that open to eternal locations, as we pass through our "portal of eternity" don't we want it to be the door to God's granary - heaven? If so, it therefore behooves us to grow the right crop.

Ron Covey