What we plant and what we build shapes the life we live

As we begin the adventure of a new year, it can help to review some basic principles about life as the Bible presents them, using illustrations of reaping a harvest or building a building. Outside the Bible, the children’s story of the three little pigs carries a similar idea. There are consequences to the choices we make.

If we want to harvest a crop of benefit, we must plant the right seed and cultivate it, for we will harvest what we plant, not something better.

Building is a planned, intentional activity that requires an investment of time and effort. It is not a random, haphazard or impulsive activity. Jesus describes the wise man who builds on a proper foundation and the foolish man who does not. Jude admonishes us to “build yourselves up on your most holy faith.”

These easy-to-grasp examples from everyday life are used in the Bible to remind us that it matters what kind of life we are building through daily choices. Or, to use the planting and harvesting analogy, someone has put it poetically: Sow a thought, reap an act; sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.

Paul warns the Galatian believers not to be deceived, “for God is not mocked — whatever we sow we will reap.” Fleshly living results only in decay, but spiritual living results in eternal life, for ourselves and those we effectively influence by investing our lives in them.

What are we planting? What are we building with our lives this year?

Pastor Gordon Warner, 330-415-4766