Monday, November 27, 2017

Galatians 6:7 -- On Sowing, Reaping, and Becoming

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
 Galatians 6:7


I think that we deceive ourselves, often, with the thought that we can somehow "get away with" something... anything.  We think that God is either unobservant or a pushover, or else that his punishment will be light and he'll let us sneak by with an A- or even a B+.

Whether it is Satan or our own justification though, it is assuredly deception.  God isn't grading on a curve, or even with generous letter grades and lots of make up extra credit.  This is all individualized education, and there can be no cheating or skating through based on the expectation of others.  What we often fail to remember is that we *are* the result of everything that we have sown in life.  It shines through in everything that we do and say and in the way we look at, and interact with, the world. 

Repentance is real, but it takes work, because it is ourselves we have to change... into a person who would not make that choice again.  We can't share or borrow talents or oil at the last day because these things take time.  Becoming who we are takes a lot of effort, and that is how we will be judged... not by some random essay question or a final exam with a number 2 pencil after cramming all night.  Our lessons have to be in our long-term memory, and our minds, and our hearts... written in our souls.  That's why God truly can't be mocked for incomplete justice or for failing to keep his word.  It might not happen on our personal preferred timetable, because God gives us all space to change and repent... but justice is *always* going to be paid. 

What about Mercy you ask?  Christ's mercy is also real and powerful, and none of us could be saved without it.  But Mercy doesn't rob justice.  It doesn't take me and say, oh, that's okay, you were doing F work, but you can pass the class anyway, and throw me unprepared into the next stage of my education.  Christ's mercy, instead, is a personal tutor, coming in and helping us to be better students, to learn the material anyway, and to become someone who *can* pass the class.  And of course, if the reason that we have been getting an F is that we've been skipping and focusing on bad things instead, well obviously we have to change that and come back to class before we can progress.

Does that mean we have to be perfect?  ... Well, yes.  But only eventually, not immediately... not even in this life.  There will be time to get there.  We just have to be on the path, working towards that day.  Today, let's do that.  Let's make sure we are sowing good in our lives... treating others as we want to be treated, and forgiving others as we would like to be forgiven.  Good things can come back into our lives too.  We just have to choose to do them, and to live them, and to become them.  Let's work on it.

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