The Seeds of Our Deeds

Scripture:  Galatians 6:9-10 - And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Are you one of those that began to serve the Lord Jesus Christ with excitement and energy, but now have or seem to be feeling like you want to quit?  There are many that start out with what appears to be a sincere desire to serve the Lord, but in time fizzle out.  Of course, we know the Bible teaches us that there are fakes and frauds among us, but there are those that are simply quitters.  They have made promises and commitments to the Lord to do certain things for Him, and do them for a season of time, but stop for reasons that have become larger than their promises and commitments.  Jesus says that those that come to follow Him must love Him even above our own lives or we cannot be His disciples (Luke 14:25, 26).

Many times it takes a season to reveal the true us to us, and to reveal if what we see in a point in time is truly what God sees as true about our hearts.  God uses time in our lives to either prove us as genuine or prepare us to be the blessing He desires and intends that we should be to others.  It is in this season that we fail the test of weariness.  It is not always a weariness of the body that we succumb to, but a weariness of our minds due to the expectations we have developed rather than walking by faith and continuing in obedience, leaving the results and returns to God.  God promises that there is a return and/or reward for remaining faithful to continuing those things we began to do for Him and stop looking for immediate and temporal returns.  Our zeal must be fueled by the desire to please God and bring glory to Him with the opportunities we have been given to do things in His name in this world.

We have been appointed and assigned to well doing in this world to other people (Eph. 2:10; Phil. 2:12).  God says that as a blueprint we are to use Matthew 7:12,” … treat people the same way you want them to treat you…” It is this well doing of deeds that God calls sowing.  What makes our deeds good is not simply that we call them good, but they are motivated by a desire, an ambition, and a leading that flows from a God consciousness about life that is founded upon a true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus our Lord was a seed sower not only by the powerful words that He spoke, but by the deeds He did under the leading and empowerment of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38).   When the deeds of our lives are the “good works foreordained” and those that are according to the “good pleasure” of God, the reaping of eternal value will be such things as:  1). God is glorified (Matt. 5:14-16);  2). It brings Him praise and thanksgiving (2 Cor. 9:12, 13); 3). It brings souls to saving faith in Him (2 Cor. 5:20); 4). It brings the blessings of God to others in this world.

The great promise of our devotion is that God promises that perseverance will bring the fruit of blessing, but everything we do in God’s name is not always worthy of any eternal significance or blessing.  God cautions us along with this promise to not be deceived as to Him being fooled by the quality, quantity, sincerity and authenticity of the things we do.  That which is sown to the Spirit will reap the benefits from eternal life, but there is the consequence of corruption for that which is sown to our own flesh.  Is it of God’s Spirit in and through us or does it proceed from the flesh that promotes desires that are against God?  Is it being religious or does it proceed from our relationship with Christ?

Prayer:  Father forgive us for any motives in our hearts to work for our own glory.  It is a privilege to serve you as a child and a steward in this world.  Help us to be of keen spiritual discernment in the matters You have assigned for us in this life, so that Your pleasure will also benefit our lives with the full experience of eternal life, in Jesus Name, amen.

(by Pastor Wayne Cockrell)