Plant Carrots, Harvest Brussel Sprouts?

Galatians 6: 1-10

⁷ Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. ⁸ Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. ⁹ Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.  (Galatians 6:7-10) 

In the Broadway play, The Fantastics, popular in the 60s and 70s, there is a line in a song sung by two farmers: “Plant a carrot, get a carrot – not a Brussel sprout. That’s why I like vegetables, ‘cause you know what they’re about.” You can’t plant carrots and hope you will have a harvest of Brussel sprouts.

These words are parallel with today’s reading, “A man reaps what he sows.” 

            Sowing to the sinful nature, or the flesh, brings a harvest of destruction.

            Sowing to the Spirit reaps eternal life.

Just as we can’t reap one kind of vegetable from a different one, neither can we reap eternal life by following our sinful nature.

Let’s be about the business of sowing good to all leading to an eternal harvest.

 

How does your garden grow?

One of the things I look forward to doing once the long winter months are behind me is gardening. To get outdoors in the spring, into the warm sunshine and play around in the dirt, is a most fulfilling experience. I will spend February pouring over gardening magazines, dreaming about everything I am going to do once I can get outside.

Gardens are peaceful and refreshing. It isn't so much the growing food, although I love a homegrown tomato, but the feeling of being close to nature. The year I spent all alone in the North woods of WI will forever be part of the sweet memories I take with me into my future.

Genesis 3:17 (NIV)
To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 

Gardens also bring with it a negative faction, weeds. Weeds have a way of creeping into your flower beds and if not monitored will overtake them, strangling the beauty. It is necessary to stay on top of these things.

There are many life lessons in the act of gardening. If it weren't for the sin of Adam and Eve, there would be no weeds.  Weeds are like sin, they make a perfect scenario flawed and defective. They turn a pristine landscape into a ravaged. What once was meant as a Heavenly home for Adam and Eve was turned into a land where work and pain and tears resided and death made an appearance.

Just like winter comes to an end and springs surfaces to bring new life and warmth, so too will sin come to an end. Jesus made all the difference. The weeds of sin and destruction have met their match and one day the garden will once again be free from unwanted vegetation.  Until then, we must stay on top of things and keep close to God. Pull any sinful weeds from our lives and plant goodness and love in their place.

Genesis 3:13-24