God’s Path to Maturity — Reaping and Sowing

Do you have people in your life who keep messing up? They keep repeating the same mistakes over and over. Maybe it is you who seems to never get pass a pattern of destruction in your life.

I was praying for some friends and their families. I could see this pattern of picking the wrong soul mate, making unwise financial decisions and even good people running themselves ragged to do good deeds to help others. I was puzzled over what to pray for everyone. I knew these were good people and many loved God.

Veil of Deception

I then saw that it was like a veil of deception that stopped people from seeing the consequences of their actions. As I was mediating on this, Holy Spirit brought to mind the story of the son who left home and spent all his inheritance on temporal things. He ended up living with pigs and eating their food. In Luke 15:17, it says in the New International Standard, “he came to his senses” and decided to go work for his father as a servant. Walking through the consequences caused his attitude to change. He had to walk through the consequences and the law of sowing and reaping to have the veil of deception removed!

God Sets the Parameters for the Judgment and Restoration

Another example of this is King Nebuchadnezzar. In the book of Daniel, chapter 4, it tells how God warned Nebuchadnezzar in a dream about the spirit of pride. Pride is a spirit that makes people think they are above the rules of life. It causes people to not hear sound advice and become unteachable.

Daniel, a trusted advisor, interpreted the dream which advised the king that he needed to change his attitude. A year after the warning, Nebuchadnezzar was on his roof thinking about what a great kingdom he had built. This pride opened the door for satan to take away his authority. The king lost his mind for seven years and ended up in a field eating grass like an animal. After the seven years, his mind was restored, and he glorified God. His kingdom was reinstated. God, in His grace, sets the parameters for the judgment and restoration.

I am sure Daniel prayed for the king. Daniel’s prayers allowed God to put a hedge of protection around the king. The consequences of reaping what he sowed changed the his wrong mindset.

Reaping and Sowing – God’s Pathway to Maturity

It isn’t always pride that causes us not to see. Reaping what we sow is the wakeup call usually required to cause us to change. We always want to protect people but there is a time when they are required to reap what they sow. It is part of the process to reach maturity. The some of the fruits of OVER protecting people are laziness, a you owe me attitude and no compassion for others. Our parents told us “money doesn’t grow on trees” so most of us had jobs as teenagers. Now we wonder why kids live with their parents after the reach the age of thirty. Interesting! Do you see the pattern?

Letting Go of False Responsibility

I am not saying these things to condemn us for making mistakes. These things need to be said so good people can let go of the false responsibility of over protecting people. I was taught, if I have the ability to do it then I should do it. That is what a GOOD Christian does. Christians do good things.

I was working for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a clerk typist. Since I was a good Christian, I would end up helping everyone else. Because of the state budget, the other clerk’s job was taken away. I lost my intern and my supervisor left for another job. I ended up doing three people’s jobs for the same pay. I was doing work above my pay grade and I got mad at God.

Don’t Plow in Another Man’s Field and Expect the Crop

Now I know none of you get mad at God, but I was a good Christian doing good work, so I thought I had a right to be mad. After stewing for a few days in anger, I heard from God. He said, “Don’t plow in another man’s field and expect the crop!” I said, “But I am just being a good Christian.” I heard, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” Well this went against what I was taught. Then the Holy Spirit started showing me about boundaries. My boundary was the clerk typist job description. I had been trapped by being good!

Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should!

Now when I am helping people, I stay within the guidelines of the God kingdom. I don’t stop the “reaping and sowing” which is God’s path to maturity. I quit plowing in another man’s field and worked in my own field which is doing the job I was getting paid for. I am still a team player and help at times, but I never allow them to put the responsibility on me. Responsibility without authority and pay is slave labor. Walking in love means doing what is best for someone. God’s best is not what they think is best nor what we think is best. It is asking God what He wants. He sets our boundaries.

Think of boundaries as your job description. You are a mother but that doesn’t mean you are allowed to correct other people’s children. You don’t want a foot doctor working on your heart surgery!

Good Things Get in the Way of God’s Best

When you start to change your attitude and quit plowing in another man’s field, there will be cries of unfair, selfish, and mean spirited. Don’t allow these manipulating cries of control stop you from God’s kingdom purposes. You are not a god! You can’t allow your good deeds to by-pass God’s plans for people to get then out of their ruts. Don’t be like the rich young ruler who kept all the commandments from his youth, but his good riches got in the way for God’s best. He was invited to come walk with Jesus. He turned down this invitation and walked away. Good things get in the way of God’s best.

Let’s wrap this up and remove the hooks that entangle us. Reaping and sowing are God’s way of training us. Reaping and sowing can release rewards or corrections. God loves people a lot more than we do. This law is not for punishment but is a pruning, so we can be productive in God’s kingdom. Yes, we are to protect people, but we are not to by-pass the law of sowing and reaping. Once you see a pattern in a person’s life, that is the clue you may need to back off.

Cutting Off the Good to Product God’s Best

How do you start making these changes? Say you never taught your son to cook. You are heading out the door to meet some friends. He yells, “I am hungry!”. Set the skillet on the stove and put the bread, butter and cheese on the top rank of the fridge. Tell him everything is ready for him to cook a grill cheese sandwich. Then go about your business. If he doesn’t fix it then he will go hungry. No harm, no foul.

I did this with my grandkids. They wanted money, so I gave them the opportunity to make money. I put a chart on the fridge and the amount of money they would make for each job. The first week was great. All the jobs were done, and they loved the money. The next week, they didn’t want to do certain jobs. I said that is ok. It is your choice if you want to do it. At the end of the week they got less money. They were not happy, but they learned the sowing and reaping principle that could change their lives for a great future.

It is a process to redirect and correct how we have by-passed the sowing and reaping principle. You are not being mean! You are not feeding the laziness which will become a stumbling block down the road for this person. This is the Kingdom of God view which sees the repercussions down the road. You might take a hit on not feeling good but remind yourself you are going for God’s best!

Prayer

Father God,

We bind the veil of deception and ask for Your truth to be made plain and clear to us and our circles of influence. Forgive us for the pride of thinking we can do it on our own. Forgive us for replacing Your laws of sowing and reaping with our good works. Teach us our boundaries and how to walk with excellence. We know that You love us and our circles of influence. We ask for Your protection. Set up a hedge of protection that allows us to learn about Your boundaries without cause damage. You work ALL things to our good. Help us to see and receive the truth of the decisions we make. Let us see before we end up in the pig pens of life. Open our eyes and help us come to our senses before we end eating in the pig troughs of life.

Because of Jesus and His Blood He shed, we know You hear us. Thank You.

Your kid!

———————————————————————————————————

Scriptural References: Luke 15:11-24; Daniel 4; 1 Timothy 5:18; John 15:1-8 Romans 8:28; 13:8; Matthew 19:16-26

Resources on boundaries: “Boundaries” by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend: This is a great resource on how to say no, defines what is a boundary, and why we need to set limits on things in our lives.