You're Gonna Get It!

A man will be satisfied with good

by the fruit of his mouth,

and the recompense of a man's hands

will be rendered to him.

Proverbs 12:14

There is a principle repeated oft throughout the Bible, summed up most familiarly by Paul in Galatians 6 when He said, "You reap what you sow." This can be a double-edged sword, cutting first one way and then the other, sometimes with blessing, sometimes with bitterness. We just have to keep God's principle in mind.

I want to reap a good harvest in life. I desire to pick ripe and luscious fruit from the trees of life's highway. I hope that my storehouse will be filled with plenty from the abundance of God's blessings. But what have I sown?

If I have sown to the flesh, the Bible promises me corruption. If I have sown the spirit, the Bible promises me life. But what if I have sown to both? What if I have sown both seeds of love and seeds of hate? Seeds of blessing, and seeds of cursing? What if I have scattered both wheat and tares?

In life, I'm afraid we all sow seeds whose fruit we later regret. But I am thankful for the grace of God, which is sufficient for all things. And the love of God which covers a multitude of sin. I may have to eat some bitter fruit, but God still has a way of turning it around for my good. So I try to listen and learn, and repent and forgive. And intentionally sow new seed in fresh fields in hopes that someday the harvest I reap tomorrow will overwhelm the crops of the past.

Which is why I try to sow love and blessing into people's lives. I don't always succeed, but I am failing less and less (thank God!). I try to speak words of kindness and encouragement, first of all because words of kindness and encouragement have been spoken to me. But also because I want the future harvest of kindness and encouragement. And blessing. And love.

And the recompense of a man's hands will be rendered to him, the verse says. That generally means people get what they deserve; they earn their wages. OH BOY! Am I in for it! It's one thing to speak, another thing completely to do. It's not enough to promise; we must also fulfill what we have said. We must practice what we preach.

Again, I'm thankful for the grace of God. He forgives sin and discharges debt and liberates captivity. He also forgets what He forgives, and He has a way of taking all things into His hands--the good seed, the bad seed, and even the ugly harvest--and turning them into something He can use.