Laws of sowing and reaping

Introduction

There are certain universal unchanging laws that govern this universe.

They are universal and hence do not change from place to place and time to time.

They existed right from the beginning of the universe and will exist till the last day of this world.

In truth this universe exists on them and without them nothing can exist.

A change in a jot or line of these laws affects the whole universe even to its self destruction.

No one, no wise man or fool can deny their existence and influence over the universe.

Whether we like them or not, they are to stay, work and influence everything.

That is the importance of these laws.

Before we go into the discussion, let me tell you three things:

1.   Some of the thoughts I express here in this video and some other were discussed early in my video “Lessons from a Farmer”.

The video “Lessons from a farmer” is available in my official video channel: youtube.com/thenaphtalitribe.

I recommend you to watch that video also along with this.

2.   I would like to share a truth expressed by the great Bible teacher, Morris Cerullo.

I have added below my explanation also to his statement.

Morris Cerullo said “All truth is parallel”.

All truths in this world have a parallel truth in the spiritual world.

Everything starts and happens first in the spiritual realm and then a parallel happening occurs in this world.

Nothing in this world happens without it originating in the spiritual realm.

This world has no existence without the truth in the spiritual realm.

The truth is in the spiritual realm and what we see in this world is only a reflection of it.

So the Laws of Sowing and Reaping originated in the spiritual realm and then happened in this world.

Since it is a decreed truth in the spiritual realm it is unchanging in both realms.

Man and the world have no option to live out of it.

3.   All these laws work positively as well as negatively.

However, the primary motivation and emphasis of all these principles and promises in the Bible is toward the good.

These laws of sowing and reaping are applicable not only to a farmer but also to every action of man or animal in this world.

All our good deeds and evil deeds are governed by these laws, because they are universal laws decreed by the creator.

With these thoughts in mind let us proceed into the study of laws of sowing and reaping.

Galatians 6:7 – 10   reveal wonderful revelations that contain almost all laws of sowing and reaping.

So keep this passage in mind as we go on discussing this topic.

Galatians 6:7 - 10

7     Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

 8    For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

 9    And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.   (NKJV)

Law 1. Sowing has a purpose to reap

Sowing is not an aimless action of a farmer.

It is not an entertainment or a charity work.

It is not throwing away of dead seeds to save space.

It is a result oriented activity with an aim to reap.

In another words, a farmer is not different from a rich investor.

Both of them have a purpose to harvest.

A rich man invests his wealth to get it back with an attractive profit.

A rich man’s wealth is the amount that is saved from his previous income.

Saving is what he keeps aside for his future.

He knows that investing his savings increases his wealth and shall sustain his life.

Seeds are what a farmer harvested the previous season.

It is the harvest set apart for future.

He knows that sowing is the only way to increase his seed and sustain his life.

So he sows with a purpose to reap.

If he has no purpose to reap, his act of sowing is meaningless and absurd.

A purposeless farmer is a fool.

So before you sow fix the purpose in your mind to reap.

Without this law, all other laws of sowing and reaping are meaningless.

All our actions should bear a purpose to reap.

There cannot be any action without any purpose.

There is a purpose and there should be a purpose for all our actions.

The purpose can define our actions, good or bad.

A good purpose can help us to lead a good and meaningful life.

Law 2. There is a time for sowing and reaping

No farmer sows throughout the year in all seasons.

And a wise farmer never sows out of the season.

Seasons are a universal truth.

We cannot change or defy it; and hence it is wisdom to live accordingly.

Seasons are appointed by God the creator of the universe.

Ecclesiasts 3:1,2   (NKJV)

1    To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:

 2   A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;

So we must be vigilant to sow at the right season.

We must be vigilant not to miss the season or an opportunity to sow the seed.

If we miss the sowing season we will fail the harvest season.

Opportunities are the right season for sowing seed.

A poor man at your door step, in the street or in your neighborhood is an opportunity; a right season for you to sow your seed.

A ministry undertaken by your church, a project announced by your church or the need of a co believer or your pastor is the right season to sow your seed.

Opportunities are everywhere around us.

The season ready for sowing waits at every corner of our life only if we look around.

So, sow now and never miss a chance.

Law 3. We Reap in a Different Season than We Sow

As there is a time for sowing and reaping, we must understand that they are not the same season.

We never reap in the sowing season; we reap in a different season.

Sowing season and reaping season are different time with a long distance in between.

Many things happen in between them.

And all happenings and seasons in between sowing and reaping are maturing the fruit.

That means, there is and there must be a distance between sowing and reaping so that other seasons may work on our seed for a mature harvest.

Let us remember that Rome was not built in a day.

No athletes are ready for the race within a day.

No solider is equipped for the war within an hour.

Wisdom is not gained overnight.

No spiritual leader is born overnight.

This is a law of life.

So patience is one of the secrets of success.

If we patiently wait we shall surely reap.

James 5:7   Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. (NKJV)

Waiting is not failure.

Waiting to the season of reaping is the success of the farmer.

Waiting is the maturing time; it is the strengthening time.

Waiting multiplies the harvest into hundred fold.

Law 4. We are in partnership with God

In sowing and reaping we are in partnership with God.

While we wait after sowing a harvest, the other partner works hard to produce a rich harvest.

God is our partner who continues the work as we take rest after the season’s labour.

Seasons are not in our control; they are neither out of control.

The creator and the law giver has the ultimate control over the seasons.

God has decreed seasons and time.

And He is active through what he has established.

Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it. (NKJV)

Do not forget our partner; without Him we cannot prosper.

He is active even while we are sleeping.

He gives the color, sweet smell, the size and the taste to our harvest.

He multiplies all our single seeds into hundred fold.

Law 5. No reaping without sowing

Every effect has a cause behind it.

Reaping is the effect of sowing that happened before a certain time.

There is no harvest without sowing.

Sowing causes the harvest and harvest facilitates sowing.

Sowing season calls us to sow the seed.

A lazy man will never reap a harvest.

Proverbs 20:4   The lazy man will not plow because of winter; He will beg during harvest and have nothing.  (NKJV) 

Sowing is investing your wealth.

Every investment need a saving, a portion kept aside from today for tomorrow.

It a portion kept aside; not the surplus.

A farmer separates seeds for the next sowing before he enjoys the harvest.

He knows that all the harvest is not for spending, the best portion is kept aside for future.

Seeds are the best of the today’s harvest because we want for a better harvest in future.

We are sowing not only for us, but for a future generation also.

Sowing is a lesson to our descendents; food to them and seed for them to sow again.

Law 6. We reap the same in kind as we sow

Genesis 5:3   And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.   (NKJV)

Laws of Sowing and reaping do not violate our freedom of choice.

We humans are free to choose good or evil.

And life is filled with choices.

Our choices affect us on an everyday basis in everything we do.

That means our everyday choices are very significant.

Our choices affect us and others in dramatic ways whether we see it immediately or not.

To choose or not to choose is a choice; a failure to make choice is a choice.

That means there is nothing like neutral or disinterestedness in life.

Neutrality is a choice not to make any choice.

Every choice has a consequence of some kind and to some degree.

So life is full of consequences both good and bad.

Actually, the most important choice is often the one that seems small and unimportant.

But this may either protect us from evil or expose us todangers.

One choice leads to another; they never let us to go back and start again.

This law is also called the Law of consequences.

This law tells us that every action of humans has a consequence.

Harvest is a result of our choice to sow the seed.

And whatever we choose to sow will produce the same kind in harvest.

And the law of sowing and reaping is that we reap what we sow in its kind.

Genesis 1:11  Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so. (NKJV)

Every living being in this world reproduces only its own kind.

It was decreed so by the Creator of the universe.

Galatians 6:7, 8

7     Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

 8    For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.  (NKJV)

Law # 7. Once we sow reaping is inevitable

Once we sow the seeds, reaping is inevitable.

Every seed has an innate energy to sprout and grow.

Once a seed is buried in the ground the process of growing starts.

It sprouts into a sapling, then a plant, a tree and bears fruits for the harvest.

The sower cannot evade the harvest.

This is the inevitability of reaping.

For example, you are sowing a small seed in the ground near your house.

In a congenial atmosphere the seed sprouts and a sapling comes out.

Then it grows into a small plant and a fruit bearing tree.

After some time it matures and starts bearing fruits.

And you make a harvest.

Suppose you dislike the fruits and refuse to reap the harvest.

Still the tree is in your garden and will continue to bear fruits.

If you refuse to reap, all the fruits of the tree will fall on the ground near your house.

The tree will reap itself; reaping is unavoidable.

The awesome truth about reaping is that we reap not only what we have sown, but also what others have sown.

This may be good or bad, but we reap the harvest of other humans also.

Thus we reap what our predecessors have sown as well as whatever our contemporaries are sowing.

Our life is not an island that emerged suddenly out of an ocean.

It has a predecessor and a successor.  

All life comes from antecedent life.

Everything we enjoy today is also the result of the labor and sowing of others.

What we reap was planted either naturally or purposefully, either by God or by man.

We often eat the fruit of a tree that we have rendered no labor.

And we have the privilege of entering into the labor of others.

This law is also known as the law of inheritance.

John 4:38 "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."  (NKJV)

Though the choice of sowing belongs to another person often we suffer the consequence.

We often inherit the harvest whether it is positive or negative; good or evil.

Remember we cannot reap a different kind than what has been sown.

We are often proud to say that we have inherited wisdom, talents and special abilities from our forefathers.

That means we have inherited a harvest of everything they have sown.

Thus we reap blessings and joy; curses and sorrow as their inheritor.

So, as we sow now, let us keep in mind that our descendents will surely reap a harvest.

If we sow good seeds our children will reap blessings; if we sow evil our children will reap curses.

This law speaks not only about the seeds sown by our forefathers.

We are enjoying a comfortable living because of what our contemporaries are sowing.

We are now living an insecure life in this century because of what our contemporaries are sowing.

Law # 8.  We Reap More Than We Sow

No fact is more significant and sobering than this one.

It is the principle decreed by God that one seed may produce a hundred fold harvests.

The harvest is always greater in number than the seeds planted.

This truth motivates every farmer to sow the seeds or plant a tree.

If he reap only what has buried in the ground in number, he would be on the losing end.

And nature cannot feed humans, as well as sustain it without a greater harvest than the seeds sown.

Reaping more than we sow is fundamental to the laws of the harvest.

This is not just true for the agricultural world alone; it is true for nearly every aspect of life.

It is true for the physical and the spiritual; for believers and unbelievers alike.

When we sow good seeds, we bountifully receive blessings from the hand of God who is debtor to no man.

And according to the same law, when we sow evil, we will generally reap more than we sowed.

Multiplying the reaping is not man’s part.

Man can only sow seeds, God multiplies it.

Man has no control over it.

So man cannot choose what or how much to multiply.

All our good deeds as well as our evil deeds return to us in multiplied number.

The uncertainty is that God multiplies the seed according to His will.

This is the joy of a farmer who sows good seeds and the fear of the one who sow evil.

Law # 9: We Reap In Proportion to What We Sow

The last law we discussed is that we reap more than we sow in number.

This law is that we reap in proportion to what we saw.

Both laws are related but they are different.

When we say we reap what we sow, it means also that we reap in proportion to how much we have sown.

Give more and get more is the law.

For example: we have sown 1 seed and a good harvest may give us 100 fruits.

This is according to the law that we reap more than we sow

When we sow 2 seeds we reap 200 fruits; and for 3 seeds we reap 300 and for 4 seeds it is 400 fruits.

This is the proportion theory of sowing and reaping.

We reap more and proportionate at the same time.

The last law deals with the quantity and the amount.

While the last law is about God’s part in sowing and reaping; the present law is about man’s responsibility to sow for a rich harvest.

God’s part is that whatever is sown is multiplied many fold.

Man’s part is that, trusting in God’s sovereign providence, he needs to sow all the good seeds he can and leave the result to God.

In essence, the laws of sowing and reaping mean, “As Now, So Then.”

That means today we are becoming what we will be the rest of our lives.

2 Corinthians 9: 6   But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.   (NKJV)

So Give more that we may get more.

Law 10: We Reap the Full Harvest if We Persevere

In a popular parable Jesus narrated the story of a farmer who sowed good seeds in his field.

After sowing he went to take rest and sleep.

But at night his enemy came and sowed weeds among the good seeds.

As they sprout out both good plants and weeds came up.

His servants came to him and reported the matter; they wanted pluck out all weeds.

But the farmer warned them that it may harm the good plants also.

So he decided to wait till the harvest time.

At the harvest he will reap all weeds first and burn them and then gather and store all good harvest in his granary.

The farmer is waiting patiently because he wanted a rich harvest.

A good harvest demands perseverance; a wise farmer is a man of patience.

Galatians 6: 9   And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. (NKJV)

A good harvest is the reward of a good fight.

There will come many forces that work against a good harvest.

A garden requires continuous labor and care in order to reap an abundant harvest.

This is true in the spiritual world as well as in the physical world.

Whether we are sowing the seed of God’s Word in the soil of human hearts or simply sowing seed in one’s garden in the backyard, we face opposition.

Weeds, discouragement and delay are weapons used by the enemy satan against us.

Satan sows weeds among our good seeds.

Satan discourages us through problems we may face in our life.

He makes us impatient to wait till the harvest time.

Perseverance and perspiration are the secret of success.

Endurance and hard labor is the key to success.

Law # 11: We cannot do anything about the past

Our last year’s harvest might have been worthy of praise or burning.

Sometimes the last year’s harvest contained portions of both praise and burning.

But they cannot guarantee a good harvest this year.

Neither they cause a bad harvest this year.

Last year is a tradition that does not walk along us today; we should not carry it along with us.

It is only a memory that shines or dulls but never intervenes in our life today.

Today is a new day of choices and decisions that can produce a good or bad harvest.

So do not take the success of yesterday as guaranteed for future.

Yesterday has produced its harvest, it is reaped and stored.

We cannot reap from it today or in the future.

How do we handle it when the last year’s harvest was not so good.

We made wrong choices and failed miserably.

In circumstances like this, the general tendency is to let our failure keep us from positive sowing today.

But an important lesson for success is that: we cannot do anything about last year’s harvest, but we can do something about this year’s harvest.

Last year’s poor harvest or hostile return might have been due to some of our bad choices.

We are responsible to it

Sometimes the bad harvest is caused by circumstances outside our control.

At certain other occasions, our limitations in resources might have caused the bad harvest.

Whatever be the cause of the bad harvest in the last year, we cannot do anything about it now.

We cannot change the outcome of a sowing.

Every sown seed will grow and ripe.

We have to face it and face it bravely.

Since we cannot do anything about last year’s harvest, we must learn to live with the consequences of our failures.

But we can do a lot with this year’s sowing and reaping.

The present is another opportunity of choices.

Let us choose right and good and enjoy a good harvest.

So commit ourselves to this year’s harvest.

Then again we must not decide our future upon the last year’s harvest.

The past is a lengthening shadow as far as we suffer the consequences.

But it is not a controlling force over our choices today.

We are free to make different choices than from the past.

The past is a lesson for wise choices today.

And the choices we make today define the future, not what we did yesterday.

It is not the experience of today that drives men mad.

Often we are driven mad by the remorse or bitterness for something which happened yesterday and the dread of what tomorrow may bring.

Let us, therefore, journey but one day at a time.

Inaction, brooding, wallowing is not the solution, taking the right choice and sowing again is the only way to a good harvest.

Law # 12. The Law of sowing and reaping is forever

The law of sowing and reaping is forever; it shall operate until the end of this world.

Sowing and reaping is a continuous process.

Sow the seed and reap after it; again sow your seed after reaping; reaping comes again after sowing.

This is one of the major laws on which the universe functions.

So sow your seed at the right time considering not the circumstances.

Life is full of uncertainties.

Life is never safe from uncertainties.

So stop not from a bountiful sowing looking at your circumstances.

If you are sowing in partnership with God, just trust the Lord.

We can’t wait for perfect conditions to sow our seeds.

Nor can we wait for things to be free of all risks; there is no time absolutely safe.

Partner with God; take risks and live by faith.

Let me read three verses from Ecclesiastes chapter 11.

Ecclesiastes 11: 1, 4,& 6

1     Cast your bread upon the waters, For you will find it after many days.

4     He who observes the wind will not sow, And he who regards the clouds will not reap.

6     In the morning sow your seed, And in the evening do not withhold your hand; For you do not know which will prosper, Either this or that, Or whether both alike will be good.  (NKJV)

There is no escape from the laws of sowing and reaping.

The laws of sowing and reaping are immutable much like the laws of gravity.

So live with it.