More About Responsibility - We Reap What We Sow....

Good day people. How was the last week and the weekend? I hope we all made advancement in our walk with God in grace. It is a new week and we will continue in our Galatians’ journey. 

This week we’re considering Galatians 6 verses 7 & 8:

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” King James Version

Last week we looked at the issue of proper personal appraisal and briefly touched on the fact that God hold us responsible for our lives. The verses in focus this week also show to us a reality in life that demonstrates another aspect of human responsibility.  There is an incontrovertible principle in life: the principle of sowing and reaping.  It is a reality we need to accept and take advantage of in our lives.

“While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). The same principle is alluded to by Paul in 2^nd Corinthians 9 where he was encouraging the Corinthians on giving: “But this I say,He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully” (2^ndCorinthians 9:6). 

Just like in agriculture where seeds germinate and produce specific crops or plants, everything we do produces a harvest of its own kind. Unfortunately for us many times we fail to remember this simple reality of life. Most people only think of this principle when they think about wealth or financial prosperity. However, the truth is that whether in the area of giving or in other actions we carry out and even attitudes we exhibit, this principle operates every day! In fact, the greatest miracle ever in history-God’s mighty act of effecting our redemption actually followed this principle; God “sowed” the life of His Son Jesus and He reaped many new lives (John 12: 24).

When we have this in mind, it helps us put the issue of human responsibility into better perspective. Every thought, every attitude displayed, the words we speak and actions carried out are all seeds we sow to be reaped in due time. Permit me to use an example in the context of a relationship like marriage. The seeds sown in a marriage would be the commitment of both partners, the time and effort put into clear communication between spouses, both verbal and non-verbal expressions of love and the likes while the harvest reaped would be the quality of relationship that would eventually exist in the marriage. As a husband or wife for example, you will only reap an enjoyable marriage when you sow the right seeds. Each of us is responsible for sowing the right seeds in order to reap the right harvest.

Particularly, the scriptural exhortation this week from Galatians 6 is for us to sow to the Spirit and we are assured that we will reap eternal life from the Spirit. I will refer us back to the earlier posts focusing on Galatians 5 in which we considered issues like walking in the Spirit, yielding to the influence of the Spirit and things along those lines. Those are the seeds we need to sow to the Spirit and we will reap the appropriate harvest. 

Are you on the other hand sowing evil seeds or as Galatians 6:8 calls it “sowing to the flesh”? Make no mistake about it: there is a harvest of wickedness and evil waiting to be reaped. There is a certainty of the harvest because it is a consequence of sowing. Why not put an end to it right now? Repent and begin to sow the right seeds. 

Sowing and reaping. It is a reality of life, a divinely instituted principle that remains perpetually in operation. It has implications in time and eternity and emphasizes to us the weight of our choices. As we continue this week and through life, let us learn to sow the right seeds. Let us sow to the Spirit and we will reap a bountiful harvest of life.

We will wrap up this section of Galatians next week. Have a great day and a lovely week. Don’t settle for anything less than what God’s glorious grace has made available already. 

My song for the week is “I Am Not Alone” by Kari Jobe. Our God is committed to us, so child of God remember, you are not alone!

"I Am Not Alone" by Kari Jobe

Proper Personal Appraisal

Good day dear friends. It’s a new week and we are again going back to the book of Galatians. 

This week we will turn our attention to Galatians 6:3-5:

“For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.  But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden.” King James Version

“If you think you are better than others, when you really aren't, you are wrong. Do your own work well, and then you will have something to be proud of. But don't compare yourself with others. We each must carry our own load.” Contemporary English Version

God’s word is timeless. His word revealed in the Bible still has relevance in our lives. The verses we are considering this week clearly show this to us. These verses ring through from decades ago since they were penned to address an issue that is important in our contemporary Christian communities and groups. They talk about proper personal appraisal. By this I mean the act of taking stock of one’s life-some kind of audit process to evaluate or examine one’s life. 

Many of us will be familiar with this idea. Most organizations and companies engage in some form of appraisal or audit. We audit accounts, and have mid-year appraisals, end-of-year appraisals and several kinds of periodic evaluations of one thing or the other. We also do similar things in our personal lives. If you’ve not been doing this, let me advise you to please begin to do so. It is something advocated in the Scriptures. Romans 12:3 and 2^nd Corinthians 13:5 are some other verses of the Scriptures that readily come to mind whenever I think about this. 

The problem many times for most people is that such appraisals are turned to opportunities to indulge in improper self-congratulation. Sometimes we engage in a lot of unhealthy comparisons and it appears this was also true of the Galatians. We seem to forget that the race is not against our fellow Christians. I know quite a lot of believers who rest on their oars when they could achieve much more simply because they look around them and think they are the best around. 2^nd Corinthians 10:12 says it is a foolish thing to do. We should evaluate our own lives without comparing ourselves with anyone else.

Verse 5 serves as a sobering reminder for us all: each one is responsible for his or her own matters. Many Bible scholars and commentators see this verse is a reference to the rewards to be given at Christ’s judgement seat (see 2^nd Cor. 5:10), but I believe that verse incorporates both rewards in eternity and reaping the consequences of actions here on earth as we will see later in verses 7 and 8. 

We are in such times when people blame everyone else for their actions and errors or mistakes. What Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden in a moment of desperation has now been perfected like an art. Adam blamed Eve (and God by extension since it was God who gave Eve to him), Eve blamed the serpent and poor serpent, he had no one to blame! 

Modern man always tries to find an excuse for human behaviour. We make attempts to give excuses without taking personal responsibility. I am a bad Christian because my Pastor did so and so. I am keeping malice because that lady hurt me. My marriage isn’t as good as it should be because of such and such. I have walked that road before a good number of times. I have been tricked and I’ve tried to excuse some things in my life but you see I’m learning to always remind myself that all such thinking is not tenable before God. Are you travelling that road too? Is there something you’ve been making an excuse about?

God holds us responsible for our actions in our lives. Since you are responsible for your matters, there is no reason to compare yourself with anyone else. Evaluate your life in the light of the word of God. That is the proper appraisal God expects of us: sincere self-examination devoid of deception. 

My song for the week is “Diamonds” by Hawk Nelson. Proper self-appraisal is one of the processes God uses to make diamonds out of us as He refines us and helps us identify areas of improvement. May we allow Him do His work in us.

Do have a great day and a beautiful week. Keep basking in the inexhaustible grace of God.

"Diamonds" by Hawk Nelson 

Grace In Action 2: Bearing Each Other’s Burdens

Hello dear people of God. It is a new week again and it is a great delight to post a fresh piece in Vignettes of Grace.

We will continue this week in our look at Galatians and we are now at Chapter 6, Verse 2:

“Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” Galatians 6:2 King James Version.

In May 2002 the Taipei Times ran a very touching story. 30 years before then (back in 1972), a two year old Chinese boy, Hu Jen-Chuan, fell from a table and went into a coma. When he woke six days later, he had become mentally challenged and was not able to talk or move. As one would expect of any parent, his mother was terribly distressed. To worsen the situation, she also could not afford to place him in a nursing home as his health condition required.

Liu Kuei-Lan cared for her son herself and her care demonstrated such depths of motherly love. Because he is unable to move, Hu Jen-Chuan is liable to develop terrible bed sores. So in addition to other acts of care she had been performing for her son, this amazing lady had carried her son around on her back for 30 years!

As at May 2002 when the story was published, Liu Kuei-Lan was 65 years old and weighed 40 kilograms. Her son, by then a grown man (and still mentally challenged), weighed 82 kg. On many occasions Liu had fallen and fractured her bones while carrying her son. Yet she continued to carry him. When asked how she could do it her reply was simple: “he ain’t heavy, he’s my son.”

Liu’s story is a good illustration of what God expects of us as expressed in our verse in focus this week. Bearing each other’s burdens is a practical expression of love and the ‘law of Christ’ fulfilled by doing this is the law of love (John 13:34). The emphasis is on “oneanother's”, in contrast with the selfishness which leaves other people to take care of themselves. 

The modern world generally has moved very rapidly away from a “communal life” outlook to an individualistic selfish outlook. Even though people have recently tried to recapture this “communal life” through avenues like the internet, facebook, twitter and the likes, for most, these are nothing more than trivial diversions. Much of the interaction on these platforms is faceless. 

Rather unfortunately, the same trend occurs in our churches and among many believers. We have embraced the culture of the society around us. Many churches have become cold and impersonal and many of us as believers in Christ do not live in selfless devotion to others. Consequently, we do not bear each other’s burdens as we ought.

While the primary reference of the word  “burdens” used in Galatians 6:2 considering the immediate context may be to the heavy and oppressive weight of temptation and spiritual failure, anything in any form that could weigh other believers down would fall into the category of a burden. The burdens we need to help each other with would include spiritual, emotional and even physical encumbrances. As such worry, guilt, sorrow, anxiety and other such loads would be included. It means we ought to have a deep sense of sympathy and feeling for each other, to the point of considering the case of a distressed brother or sister as one’s own.

The early Church practiced this pretty well –in one instance they gathered and sent some aid to other believers in Judea (Acts 11:28-30), they supported travelling ministers like Paul, prayed for one another e.g. when Peter was arrested in Acts 12, and the likes. This must have contributed to the impact the church had in their societies. After all, Jesus said that it is by the expression of our love to one another that men will know that we belong to Him (John 13:35).

When last did you feel genuine concern and interest in another brother or sister? When last did you open your bowels of mercy to a fellow believer? When last did you allow God use you to lighten someone else’s burden? Have you shut yourself in self-absorption without looking out for others? God has a much better plan for your life and mine.

Grace has brought you and me into a new existence in which it is our responsibility to bear other people’s burdens. That is also a facet of grace in action. This is the reality of the new life in the Spirit.  As we do this, we fulfil God’s directive, God is pleased, we will be fulfilling the reason for our existence and people’s lives will be touched by our lives. 

This week I have picked the song "Shoulders" by For King & Country.

Have a very good day people and a lovely week as well. 

"Shoulders" by For King & Country