You Reap What You Sow
We will eventually reap what we diligently sow into our spiritual lives.
If you want to have a vibrant spirituality that influences and permeates every part of your life, you're going to need to put in the work. Having a close relationship with Christ doesn't "just happen." Just like any other relationship, it takes intentional and consistent effort to grow your friendship with Jesus. We can't hope to know God's will and desires if we're lazy about reading Scripture. We can't hope to communicate with God if we're lazy about prayer. We can't hope to transform into the likeness of Christ if we're lazy about applying God's instructions. Having a vibrant spiritual life takes real effort on our end together with the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
In fact, the kind of spiritual life you will end up having is proportional to the effort that you put in. If you put in little effort in your relationship with Christ, don't be surprised if you're not that close to Him. Worse, if you put no effort in your relationship with Christ, don't be surprised if that relationship doesn't seem to exist at all. Of course, if we believe in Jesus, we will always remain to be the children of God no matter what. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (see Rom. 8:35). But the quality of our relationship with Jesus will suffer if we don't diligently seek after Him and know Him. Do we really want to end up being children of God who don't know their Father in heaven?
Paul's letter to the Galatians provides us with a key insight about growing our spirituality. He wrote these words: "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap" (Gal. 6:7 ESV). Paul's statement obviously alludes to the concept of farming. Whatever one sows in the ground is what they can also expect to reap in the future. If a farmer sows potato seeds, he or she can expect to reap potatoes one day. If a farmer sows strawberry seeds, he or she can expect a harvest of strawberries at some point. Reaping what you sow is a simple and logical principle of life. It applies to our spirituality too. If we sow much into our spiritual life (i.e. through praying, reading Scripture, worshiping, contemplating), we can expect to reap a close and vibrant relationship with God. But if we fail to sow in these areas, we shouldn't expect to reap anything too. We will eventually reap what we diligently sow into our spiritual lives.
What are you going to sow in your life today so that you can reap a strong and vibrant spirituality in the future?
Barnabas the Monastic
Servant of Christ. Husband. Dad. Modern Monastic. I have a wild ambition in life: get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as I can while on earth. I explore and integrate ancient Christian monk wisdom in modern everyday life. Lives in Canada.
