Don’t Give Up
Galatians 6:9,10 Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith. (NRSV)
When you put someone under pressure, that’s when you truly discover what that person is made of. That’s when you truly discover what’s going on in their hearts. That’s when God truly discovers whether our faith in Him is real … or not.
One of the biggest temptations for you and me when we’re suffering is to rebel and to start behaving badly. To give up on the goodness that we’ve learned from God over all those years and just go our own way. Somehow, we have this distorted ledger in our heads that goes something like this:
Well, God’s certainly not blessing me at the moment, so why not get out there and enjoy myself? Blow God!! What do I have to lose?!
Of course, in the cold, hard light of day that’s a stupid line of reasoning, because we know that behaving badly eventually is just going to make things worse.
Galatians 6:7-10 Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith. (NRSV)
God is a God of seasons. Look at how regularly they roll around – spring, summer, autumn, winter. Year after year. Seed time and harvest. Season after season.
And here’s the thing: if we don’t grow weary of doing what is right, if we don’t give up, we will reap the harvest that’s waiting for us. When? Well, at harvest time, of course!
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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