And let us not grow weary of doing good,
for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
This
verse from Galations 6 is a familiar one. If you're like me, maybe you take
this verse and read it as a "if I keep doing good stuff, God will give me
the good stuff I'm working toward" promise.
Something
like this: if we pour the good stuff into our kids—completing the entire math
curriculum before June, asking the kids to pick up their shoes one more time,
giving them the best books for literature study, carting them around to piano
and dance and soccer, training our children to be respectful and kind, teaching
a wiggly boy to read—we'll get good kids.
And
we get tired of pouring.
Let
us not forget the verses before this one:
"Do not be deceived:
God is not mocked,
for whatever one sows,
that will he also reap.
For the one who sows to
his own flesh
will from the flesh reap corruption,
but the one who sows to
the Spirit
will from the Spirit reap eternal life"
(Galations 6:7, 8).
Ladies,
I grow weary and tired when I depend on the strength of my flesh to muscle good
things into being. And when I think about it, the things I can manage on my own
strength aren't even the things I desire. I want the big promises and huge
dreams that only a big God can do.
So,
this week's challenge is to SOW to the SPIRIT.
Do
we stop doing all those good deeds that God has commanded us to do? Not at all.
We need to be faithful in running one more load of laundry, teaching one more
lesson of fractions, and cooking one more family dinner with a toddler on the
hip and a zealous nine-year-old helper by our side. But we need to [re]commit to living by the Lord's strength, and not
our own. We need to sow less from our flesh, and more to the Spirit.
Thus says the Lord,
“Cursed is the man who
trusts in mankind
and makes flesh his strength,
and whose heart turns
away from the Lord.
For he will be like a
bush in the desert
and will not see when prosperity comes,
but will live in stony
wastes in the wilderness,
a land of salt without
inhabitant… (Jeremiah 17)
This
is what I want you to do. Take this week and [re]commit yourself to the study
of God's Word. Look
at your daily routine, make a plan, and set aside a time where you can apply yourself in study, meditation and memorization. Where your flesh is weak, give that over to God. Confess
it to Him. Ask Him to give you the desire to study His word faithfully. And
then set those feet to running the race and trust your big, big, God to be
faithful to His promises.
...Blessed is the man who
trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree
planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when
the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a
year of drought nor cease to yield fruit” (Jeremiah 17:5-8).
Psalm 1 tells us that that tree—the one with green leaves, that yeilds fruit, and whoes roots reach deep down to the stream—the delight of that tree is in the Law of the Lord
and he meditates on it day and night. I want to be that kind of tree for my
family.
This week, [re]commit to yielding fruit by the strength of the Lord, not your own flesh; be faithful to the daily study of God's word.
