Are you ready for some good news?
When you sow into the Spirit, you reap abundant life!
I'm currently exploring the promise of the fruit of the Spirit. The love, joy, peace and patience that comes from the Spirit is not something that we manufacture; the fruit of the Spirit is a byproduct of the presence of Christ in our lives. If you wonder how you can help cultivate that fruit, Paul has some direct instruction:
“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. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:7–9, ESV)
To sow “into the Spirit” means to invest your life, your thoughts, your hopes, and your energy into the things of God’s Spirit not your own sinful desires. The more that you receive the gospel, the more you want to sow into the Spirit.
I’ve mentioned before the story of Julia Mancuso, the gold-medal winning Olympic downhill skier. When she was a little girl, Julia drew a picture of herself winning the gold. What a beautiful faith image! She saw herself winning- and, indeed, she won. It surely doesn’t mean that every little girl that draws a picture of herself winning an Olympic medal will do so. But it probably does mean that anyone who has ever won an Olympic medal at some point believed it was possible. Once Mancuso drew that picture, what did she do? Sit around on the couch through her teen years playing video games and eating chips? Most assuredly not. Instead, she was in the gym and on the slopes “sowing” into her dream. What you love – what you believe in – you sow into.
The more you understand the glorious assurance of your inheritance in Christ (that it is to say, the more you know that you win the medal spiritually speaking), the more you’ll sow into the Spirit. The announcement of the gospel is not, “Sow into the Spirit or else you are under condemnation.” Instead, the announcement of the gospel is, “It is for freedom that you have been set free!” Therefore, because you have been set free into the life of the Spirit, sow yourself into the Spirit. When you sow into the Spirit, you reap abundant life. And that’s the Gospel!
