A cursed earth and the laws of sowing and reaping.

One of the objections to the gospel I hear is that its too easy. They say “If  salvation is free, and it is not earned by being good, what is to stop people just doing just what they want, and still get to heaven?”  The first thing I usually say in response, is that if somebody  starts off with this as his intention, then he has only gone through the motions in turning to the Lord, and has not really repented (turned from his sin). And if he has not really  repented he is not really saved. Jesus' death on the Cross is not a ticket to sin.   It has a great deal to do with issues of the heart, and God knows the heart.

The second thing to say concerns the Biblical law of sowing and reaping.  “Do not be deceived”, we are told, “God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7) If a young (unmarried) girl gets pregnant, turns to the Lord in her troubles and gets saved, she will still be pregnant.  We reap what we sow. If you plant potatoes, you will not get carrots, you will get potatoes. In the spiritual realm this works in both the positive and the negative senses. In terms of the positive, if you are generous in your giving, the Lord will reward you accordingly. The reaping of your generosity may or may not be in this life, but  He is just and you will not loose your reward (unless you do it to be seen, in which case you already have your reward).  If you are a loving person, others will love you too in the here and now, and you will also receive your reward in Heaven.

But the law of sowing and reaping works in the negative too. Do not be deceived  (many are). If you are an angry person, this will affect your relationships. If you sow hate and bitterness, it will come back on you. If you think about it, you probably know (and have experienced) that this is the way that it works. 

Just as we cannot break the law of gravity, we cannot break this type of law.  If I try to break the law of gravity by jumping off the roof, I am likely to be broken by the law.   Science has discovered many laws,   but it has not yet discovered them all (you knew that right?).  There are  many spiritual laws, the law of sowing and reaping is just one of them. The  Bible knows them all, but we will only discover them as we “continue in the Word”!  We cannot break these laws, but we can be broken by them, even if we do not know them.  Reality is the way it is, it just is. Since this is the case, it would seem wise to learn about the spiritual laws that govern the universe. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. I will say it again. This book knows us. It knows how reality works.  The book of Proverbs stresses over and over the need to get understanding, and gives us lots and lots of sound advice.  Wisdom is not a modern invention, in fact by and large it is not a modern virtue.  But we neglect such proffered wisdom and advice to our detriment.  We reap what we sew. If all else fails, read the instructions (Bible help).

 There are two more things I want to say about the law (parable) of sowing and reaping.  The first is that, unlike the law of gravity, the effects of the law of sowing and reaping are not usually instantaneous.  The process involves hidden incubation, sprouting of the seed, the growth of the plant, and only then the eventual fruit. Persistence both positively and negatively is “rewarded” accordingly. In terms of the negative, in the post “For your sakes I curse the earth” I suggested that part of this is that in His love for us,  God cursed the earth so that the pains of life might draw us back to Him.  As with Cain, this is often more than we can bear. The solution however is to return to Him, to receive His mercy and His help. Many times this comes in an ability to bear what we cannot bear without him.   But the cross is important here too.  The scripture tells us that “He became a curse for us (on the tree), that we might receive the blessings of God.” He has provided the Cross (the tree), as a way the break the vicious cycles that imprison us.  This provision of the cross is not automatic, and needs to be applied. It is an important key to inner healing that the Lord has revealed to the Church in this hour. There are many things to say about it.

The final thing I want to say here about this parable/law of sowing and reaping, is that there is an associated law involved, namely the law of multiplication.  If we plant one potato, we do not expect to reap just one potato, we expect multiplication.  Positively we read that if we do so much as give a cup of cold water in His name we will not loose our reward. Negatively we find that in time the seeds of bitterness, for example, come back upon us in a measure that is way out of proportion to what we sewed.    Bitterness is a poison that affects most the one who is bitter  and next most, the ones the bitter one loves.  Nursed bitterness just grows and grows and grows until it chokes out life.  Again this is just the way it is, but Scripture does warns us about it (Hebrews 12:15). 

The solution as always is to turn to the Lord, for He is merciful and will abundantly pardon.  He has cursed the earth and in doing so placed the negative aspects of sowing and reaping in place so that the consequences of our rebellion and poor choices and ours and others  sin will exert a pressure which He wants to use to bring us back to Himself.  These things are small (but persistent) warnings of the wrath that is to come to all who reject His laws and His Law.  The goodness and forbearance of God is designed to lead us to repentance, and we choose!  Think about it, He has made us with such significance that we can, if we so desire,  stand in defiance of One who is so powerful,  that a single Word "spoke" worlds into being.  We do of course reap what we sow whether in defiance,  or in obedience!