Planting and Harvest

Last Thursday in Colombia Missouri, a 17 year old boy was found dead. He had fallen 140 feet into a quarry after running from the police. His name was Jamon. I knew him, I had met him. One or two years ago, he was living with his aunt and uncle, friends of mine, here in Huntington. Jamon had behavioral problems and his aunt took him in to help. He would say, "Just let me be me and you be you." However, his "me be me" was not providing positive results. This is a sad case that is repeated daily across this country.

There is a law that has been put in place by God that we all are subject to.

"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." Galatians 6:7-8

There is no escaping the fact that the things we do in our lives come back to us. It is a cycle, and depending on how we are living, that cycle can be vicious. What often happens is that when the harvest comes, and these negative results become even more difficult to bear, people often look to substances to ease the pain. This only adds to the cycle. Negative seeds become negative crops. The wording of that scripture is so serious.....God will not be mocked. You cannot live your life continually sinful, and expect not to have destruction as the result. As a preacher I knew once said, "People are living their lives in any way they want, and praying for a crop failure."

If you look at what Paul writes there, its easy to answer what result we would want. Destruction or eternal life? Here we have plan laid out, showing us how to harvest eternal life, yet it is so hard to follow sometimes. We have an enemy that appeals to our flesh, who wants nothing more than to ruin us, to see us floundering in destruction. Make no mistake, planting seeds to the pleasure of our flesh is exciting....thrilling. If it weren't, there would be no reason that we do it. This enemy wants us to plant acres of sin seeds and get lost in the misery of our harvest.

Again, this is serious, and I want nothing more than to see you avoid this destruction. With the strength of the Spirit, we can avoid coming up on the wrong side of this equation. We can change if we need to. It won't be easy, just because we decide to plant to please God today doesn't mean we won't still be faced with the seeds of destruction we had already planted, but with God, and each other, we can overcome. The enemy tries so hard to get you at your age, to get you in this negative cycle so that you won't be able to get out and spend so much of your life lost. Don't be lied to by the enemy.

Proverbs 14:12 says it best, and says it pretty bluntly.

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."

Don't let this be the way you lead your life. Don't get in that cycle of destruction, but enjoy the harvest that God has planned for you.