The Sowing Time of Life

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Galatians 6:7.
In the laws of God in nature, effect follows cause with unerring certainty. The reaping will testify as to what the sowing has been….
Every seed sown produces a harvest of its kind. So it is in human life. We all need to sow the seeds of compassion, sympathy, and love; for we shall reap what we sow. Every characteristic of selfishness, self-love, self-esteem, every act of self-indulgence, will bring forth a like harvest. He who lives for self is sowing to the flesh, and of the flesh he will reap corruption.
God destroys no man. Everyone who is destroyed will have destroyed himself. Everyone who stifles the admonitions of conscience is sowing the seeds of unbelief, and these will produce a sure harvest. By rejecting the first warning from God, Pharaoh of old sowed the seeds of obstinacy, and he reaped obstinacy.
Each actor in history stands in his lot and place; for God’s great work after His own plan will be carried out by men who have prepared themselves to fill positions for good or evil. In opposition to righteousness, men become instruments of unrighteousness. But they are not forced to take this course of action. They need not become instruments of unrighteousness, any more than Cain needed to.
Men act out their own free will, either in accordance with a character placed under the molding of God or a character placed under the harsh rule of Satan.
Every act, every word, is a seed that will bear fruit. Every deed of thoughtful kindness, of obedience, or of self-denial, will reproduce itself in others, and through them in still others. So every act of envy, malice, or dissension is a seed that will spring up in a “root of bitterness” (Hebrews 12:15), whereby many shall be defiled.
Dear young friends, that which you sow, you will also reap. Now is the sowing time for you. What will the harvest be?
The Faith I Live By p. 155
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Prayer Requests
—-Pray for the Baraka Adventist Hospital in Eastern Tchad…with the prolonged hot and dry season this year the bore hole that provides the hospital with water is drying up…no water, no hospital; no hospital, no hope for thousands of patients. James
—-please pray for my friend recently diagnosed with kidney failure both kidneys.For complete healing with or without a donor. Fadiah
—-Prayers for my beloved Aunt Chrissy. She found out yesterday she has to have quadruple bypass surgery today. Jonell
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Dear Friends,
When I was a little girl, I noticed an offer on the back of a cereal box, which I thought would be fun to have. If I sent in forty-eight box tops of Wheaties cereal within a certain time limit, I would receive a miniature license plate of each state. (At that time, there were only forty-eight states.) Just why I wanted those little pieces of colorful metal, I’ll never know.
Forty-eight boxes of Wheaties is an awful lot of cereal to eat, but I was determined to get those license plates. Day after day I ate Wheaties, and as I ate, I looked at the picture of the coveted license plates on the back of the box. Whenever a box was empty, I would keep the box top in a safe place. Week after week I would add another box top or two. Often, I would take them out of their place and count them. The time limit was nearing. I was afraid that I would not have enough box tops before the offer expired. Soon, my grandparents, my mother, and my aunt were helping me eat Wheaties cereal. The more Wheaties we ate, the less palatable it seemed. After a while, we had to force ourselves to eat that brand of cereal.
Finally, the day came when I had all forty-eight box tops. I was overjoyed! My mother gathered them together and mailed them to the company that makes Wheaties. After what seemed like an eternity, I received a small package in the mail. With excitement, I opened it. There they were. Forty-eight colorful, tiny license plates. They seemed much smaller than they had been pictured on the cereal box. Carefully I looked at each one. They were nice, but now what? “Well,” I thought, “I could arrange them alphabetically.” I did. Now what could I do? Perhaps I could sort them by color. I then put them in numerical order. That only took a few minutes. I looked at them some more. I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed. All of that cereal that we had eaten even when we were tired of that brand seemed somewhat foolish. Suddenly, I realized that that offer that seemed so desirable was nothing more than a way for them to sell more cereal. I gathered those license plates up and put them in my toy box. Eventually, most of them got lost, but whenever I happened to find one, I remembered that “let down” feeling I had had. For years, none of us had any desire to eat Wheaties.
How many times we set our eyes upon a worldly prize. How much energy we expend on a certain goal only to find that it was not as desirable as we thought it would be. How often we focus all of our attention on something that will leave us with an empty feeling. Paul, speaking of this very thing, says, “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” 1 Cor 9:24-27 Speaking to Timothy, he continues, “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.” 2 Tim 2:1-5 “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.” Phil 3:7-15
Praise God! There is a goal to desire! There is a prize to obtain that will not leave us disappointed! There is something worthwhile that we can strive toward. Our Dear Saviour bids us “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” Luke 13:24 “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed . . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Phil 2:12,13 Peter advises, “give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:10,11 Yes! Heaven is a prize that far exceeds anything we can imagine! Having sweet fellowship with our Loving Redeemer throughout all eternity is the goal that will fill us with all joy and gladness.
“Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Heb 12:1,2 Let us so live, that “when the chief Shepherd shall appear, [we] shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” 1 Peter 5:4
Rose