We Reap What We Sow

Saturday March 19, 2022

Created by Wesley Hammond

Luke 6:43–45 (NIV)

43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

Devotion

Have you ever met someone who always seems to be a good person? Have you ever met someone that is always a jerk, who bullies others and constantly says things they shouldn’t? Luke 6:43–45 tells us the exact reasoning behind these behaviors. It’s all a matter of what we hold in our hearts. The old saying you reap what you sow could not be any closer to the truth because humans are sponges: we absorb the energy around us and it affects us on all kinds of levels from our subconscious thoughts to our conscious actions. If you plant seeds of goodness in your heart then you will naturally drift towards bettering yourself as a person; yet, if you plant seeds of evil in your heart then you will lean towards worsening yourself as a person.

As I reflect on this particular Bible verse I recall a time when I encountered someone like this. I used to go to school with this individual and they were always overly aggressive and mean towards everyone regardless of who you were. As I learned more about them from other people who knew them, I eventually discovered that they had grown up hanging around the wrong people and they decided to embrace a bad lifestyle. This person had taken to living a life of hurting others and surrounding themselves with negative energy and influences and as a result bad things happened to them on a near daily basis. As I think about this person it reminds me of myself at various points in my own life. The times that I have done extraordinary feats of good or bad were based around what I was feeling in my heart. As I fill my heart with positivity and love I find myself being someone who brings others together, working hard to help heal wounds wherever I can and make people feel welcome and loved but the times I fill my heart with anger and frustration I find myself acting out of character and I say things that aren’t the greatest. Always remember that you reap what you sow or in a different frame of wording, you take in what you put out. If all you put out is toxic air then that is all you are going to be breathing in. Plant seeds of goodness and love in your heart and that is what you will receive in return.

Prayer

God of the Harvest, plant in us seeds of your goodness, that the fruit we bear in our lives might reflect the love you have for all. Amen.