Don't Grow Weary in Doing Good

No doubt you have heard the phrase, “You reap what you sow” at least once in your life. You may have also heard this saying rephrased as “You made your bed, now lie in it,” or “You get what you give,” or even, “What goes around comes around.” However you slice it, this idiom reminds us that our actions have consequences, whether those be good or bad.  

We inherently understand this in the secular world. Take, for example, preparing for a test. When you study more, you perform better. When you study less, you may fail or be dissatisfied with your grade. Indeed, the consequence of studying (or not studying) is your grade.  

Yet when it comes to our faith, we often forget this same principle. We might grumble or complain that we can’t feel God or God is absent in our lives – yet we make no effort to spend daily time with God and grow closer to Him. We expect blessings and gifts without doing any of the work. When this Scripture tells us, “God is not mocked,” Paul is reminding us that we can trust God to fulfill His promises; God is faithful and keeps His promises. However, Paul goes on to say, “A person will harvest what they plant,” which also reminds us that we must put authentic and intentional effort into our relationship with God in order to harvest a beautiful life as Christ-followers. We can trust that we will reap eternal life from the Spirit in due time, but that means that we also must sow the seeds of the Spirit today. This is not to say that when we fall short, we will not reap God’s grace and mercy. To be sure, God is and has been at work in our lives since before our first breath. We sow the seeds of the Spirit not to earn God’s mercy but to draw ourselves closer to Him. Indeed, we reap the benefit of God’s grace again and again and again, even when we do not deserve it. 

What does it look like to sow the seeds of the Spirit? I like to think of this as a question of how I can invite God into my life every day. Our pastor Adam Hamilton says the following are the five essential practices of the Christian life: worship and prayer, studying, serving, giving, and sharing. These are the practices we should aim for every day in order to sow the seeds of the Spirit. Some days, it will be easier to sow these seeds; other days, we will drag our feet and want to quit for a while. But as Galatians reminds us, it is important to not grow weary and to never give up. God looks forward to welcoming us into His kingdom with open arms. We may not see the harvest immediately, but Galatians reminds us that in God’s time, those seeds will bear fruit.