This Week's Devotional | 2004 Devotionals | 2005 Devotionals

Devotional For the Week 20th December 2004

Gems from Galatians: The Harvest
Scriptural Text: Galatians 6:7-10

1. God knows when we’ve been good or bad (Galatians 6:7)

Ever wonder how God knows when we’ve been good or bad?

As chaplain to our Methodist primary school, I often am able to call my little primary school kids by name, and that’s because I am reading off their sewn name tags on their uniforms. Yet so very often, forgetting they have name tags sewn on – they’d ask me, in great surprise, awe and wonder: “How you know my name?”

Our sin is like a tag sewn unto our chests and God knows whether we’ve been good or bad. God just reads from each tag the offense of our sin. For each time we sin, we add a new tag: “Liar – Adulterer – Rumor Monger – Thief - Hypocrite – Hater of his brother.” The list goes on.

Galatians 6:7 records a warning unto us: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.” God reads our sin, exposed like a book. And in no way can it be hidden from Him.

2. We Reap What We Sow (Galatians 6:7-8)

The Scripture says in Galatians 6:7-8 that: “A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. ”

Let me illustrate. Suppose I invite you to my garden one day. And I tell you it is my dream to create a garden full of beautiful roses and one that yields my two favorite fruits - watermelons and mangoes.

Then I head on out to the public field opposite my house and gather a couple of poisonous fruits from the pong pong trees there. I go on back to my garden, plant those pong pongs deep into the soil – then I cover them with fertilizer and water them. Then I sit back and say: “Couple o’ more months and we’ll be able to eat the fruits of our labor.”

You wonder, WHO plants pong pong seeds and hopes to harvest watermelons or mangoes? Likewise, WHO spends more time reading novels than the Bible and expects to yield a harvest of knowing God more? WHO spends more time talking on the phone than praying to God and expects to develop a closer relationship with Him?

Brothers, sisters – we YIELD what we plant, and we REAP what we sow. Put poisonous fruit seeds in the soil and you get poisonous fruit!

3. Will I Lose Out When I Follow God? (Galatians 6:9)

For many of us may ask, “Will I lose out if I follow God? He asks for so much ... He asks me to abandon all and follow only Him… He asks me to trust what I cannot see and may not even receive in this life! And those who do evil – they seem to be enjoying this life. Are you sure I won’t lose out?”

Friends, God will DEFINITELY make it up to you if you follow Him diligently with all your heart. The Bible records: “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33

And in this week’s Scripture, we read: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9

Don’t give up on following and doing what is good. You WILL reap a great harvest in the time to come. The farmer that plants and tills the ground of watermelon seeds, despite the dirt and fatigue, will reap a harvest of juicy watermelons later on. And the Christian that follows God and God alone, despite the sweat and blood and pain of this life, will reap the Harvest later on.

Prayer Response

Let’s pray: “Dearest God, no matter what I’ve gone through, I want to press on in sowing seeds of goodness – doing good wherever I go, for You have promised me that I will reap a harvest in time to come. Help me to also help someone else along this journey of life to grow and not be discouraged in his or her spiritual walk here on this earth. We look forward to enjoying the heavenly rewards You have in store for us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

- Ps Joel Yong

---