Friday, April 18, 2014

Galatians 6:7

Copyright Ó 2014 J. Neely
Galatians 6:7

7 Be [planao] not [me] deceived [planao]; God [theos] is [mukterizo] not [ou] mocked [mukterizo]: for [gar] whatsoever [hos] [ean] a man [anthropos] soweth [speiro], that [touto] shall he [therizo] also [kai] reap [therizo].  KJV-Interlinear

7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.  NASB

The summary of your life is wrapped up in the concept in this verse with this phrase, ‘what you sow.’  By not reading the studies, you miss the whole point of life.  The vast majority of people pretend their way through life, and after a while they believe their own pretense, and thus fail miserably, leaving them with embarrassment and great disappointment and nothing much more.

And this results in the greatest deception in all of human history, which is people deceiving themselves by pretense and then making that pretense a truth, which it is not.

God has issued several mandates for us to follow, in order for us to have the greatest possible life, both now in this world, and especially in eternity.

We are mandated to study and learn doctrine.  Most people do not pursue this.  We are mandated to support the teaching of doctrine.  Most people do not do this.  We are mandated to live a life based on faith and not works.  Most people violate this principle.

And the ultimate and final result of all of this, is the result of your life.

If you sow nothing, meaning you disregard Gods mandates, then should you expect to harvest anything?  And yet people do just this and expect that they will be quite successful in eternity, only that they will be greatly disappointed when their reward is nothing, because they did nothing.

The sowing and reaping concept is one of the oldest principles in all of human history.  No planting means no harvest, means no food, means you starve, means you die.  It doesn't get any simpler than that.

If you plant, then you harvest and then you eat and then you live.  And when you plant a lot, then you harvest more, and then you have more to sell and so you can have more things in life.  What part of that is not clear?

It is the same with the spiritual life.  Only our sowing comes in the form of studying the bible, by means of instruction, thus planting doctrine inside of your soul, which grows and generates a great harvest of spiritual production.

More doctrine, more learning, more growth throughout your entire life, means that you will have a phenomenal spiritual life and therefore when you face Christ, in heaven, your will receive phenomenal blessings and rewards and so forth.

You can look around you in this world for examples of blessings in great wealth as in billionaires, in talents as in the arts or music or sports, in intellect as in innovators, in anything that you can think of where there are examples of great blessings.

Likewise, ignore God and live in your pretended and worthless world and get nothing and there are certainly many symbolic examples of having nothing, such as in poverty, starvation, handicaps, disorders, awkwardness and so forth.

So, which would you prefer, wealth or poverty?  Which offers more advantages?

And in the spiritual life, you really are able to determine your own future outcome.  So why would you fail intentionally?

Before you were born into this world, you had no say as the many facets of your life.  That is the works of this world.

But in the spiritual life, you have every opportunity to determine your future, simply by choosing to pursue your daily bible study.  Why would you choose against that?

So I ask again.  Which is more desirable, wealth or poverty?

Pursue your spiritual life by adhering to Gods mandate to engage in a daily study, and thus grow up and complete your life, and therefore gain virtually everything you can imagine and more.

Or, do nothing and get nothing.

Such a difficult decision!