The Amplified Version of the Bible expands those Greek words that English doesn’t fully cover.
Galatians 6:7 in the AMP:
“Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside.) [He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God.] For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap.”
Often we look around and see people doing all sorts of wrong and prospering like crazy. Well, that just doesn’t seem right!
Even King David lamented that he was following God and doing all the good things he should but seeing those around him who were wicked, searching for more evil to do, yet they prospered.
This is where trust comes in. The last sentence of that verse?
For whatever a man sows,
that and that only
is what he will reap.
Those who lie will reap lies.
Those who cheat will reap cheating.
Those who deny truth will harvest denial.
Those who kill will harvest death.
Those who gossip will harvest gossip.
Whatever seeds we sow grow into what we will harvest.
And notice that word “grow.” When we plant corn, one kernel yields a stalk with two to four ears of hundreds of kernels. When wheat is placed in the ground, one seed grows and matures into many kernels of grain per stalk.
What we sow multiplies exponentially.
Same with that which we plant in life. Lies grow into more lies, bigger and more encompassing until truth no longer exists for us. Cheating grows into newer, bigger ways to con someone. Denying truth grows and matures into full-fledged denial of The Truth (John 14:6). Killing, physical or emotional, matures into a crop of death, emotional and physical. Gossip grows like lies, bigger and bigger until the whoppers are believed, but in the end, the gossip told is no longer BY the gossiper, but ABOUT the gossiper.
If we sow hatred, we will never reap love. Even those who agree with our hatred won’t love us, they fear and despise us.
If we sow anger, we won’t reap happiness.
If we sow fear, we will not harvest peace.
Neither will those around us that we think are getting away with their wickedness. When their harvest time comes, they will gather in exactly and only what they have planted.
Many of those who sow ugliness into the world think their smooth ways and deceptive grins fool God. They think they can talk their way past His judgment like they’ve managed to avoid every ethics or moral committee.
They will not.
And it won’t be pretty.
Those who have lived wickedly, against God, hurting people left and right will not escape His judgment and because He knows exactly what has happened and why, His judgment will be pure and perfect.
His wrath is frightening. His anger is intense. Those who have sown wickedness will face it alone.
How sad for them! How scary for them!
I can compare myself to others all day long, but it will always give me a skewed view of me. I’ll either think much more of myself than I ought (glad I’m not as bad as them!) or much less of myself than I ought (I’ll never measure up).
Instead I should look to God for my identity and for how I should view others. When we look through our own broken flesh at the wicked around us, we see people that we want crushed, destroyed, hurt like we’ve been hurt. We want revenge.
But eternally?
When we look at them with God’s eyes, we see broken people acting out of their brokenness, headed for utter, eternal destruction, and we hurt for them.
Let’s look honestly at ourselves and what we’re sowing. Be brave and ask God for His evaluation of our seed. If He says we’re sowing the right stuff, keep on! If He says that our seed is rotten, burn it up! Don’t plant it, get rid of it! Don’t let it get close to any soil in which it can grow!
As for others? If they are believers, talk to them (1 Corinthians 5:12-13). Pray for them. Urge them to confess and repent. Then step back and let them make their choice. God will take care of the rest.
If they are not believers, understand that they are lost people acting like lost people. They are owned by the devil and follow his ways. They are above all to be pitied. Pray that they will meet God and turn to Him.
Coffee, Bible, Journal.