What Are You Planting in the Garden of Your Future?

Let’s Read Galatians 6:1-10 for a Fabulous Friday Morning.

According to Paul, the things we do today plant seeds in the garden that is our future. Our present actions will produce future results. Today’s deeds will result in tomorrow’s rewards. The nature of these rewards and results depends on the type of actions and words we sow today.

Paul says that that if our present actions are focused on ourselves instead of others, that we are setting ourselves up to receive what we have given, nothing in our future. But if we live according to the gospel of Jesus which is to Love God and serve others then we can expect to reap rewards that are of eternal value and enjoyment. This text is a great companion to Joshua 1:12-18 that we read a few days ago where the tribes that had no need for more land agreed to go forward and assist their fellow Israelites in taking possession of their lands. God calls believers to serve others and especially those of the household of the faith in the name of Christ.

He begins in verse 1 by instructing us to serve each other by restoring those who have been trapped and tricked by the sins of this world. Not for the sake of attempting to humiliate or punish those people but to help them get back on the path that the Lord has for us, the path of joy and delight as we walk with the Lord. The key is to do so with gentleness, relying on the Spirit, and realizing that we ourselves are prone to the same dangers as those we see in trouble.

Verse 2 generalizes our overall responsibility by saying, “bear one another’s burdens,” this is the way we do what Jesus has called us to do. God says that we are responsible to help others shoulder the burdens they carry, rather than turning a blind eye to the difficulties they are facing, we take them on as our own. This prevents us from becoming conceited and thinking that we are too important to be bothered by what others face. As we do this we realize just how much we need Christ and will not feel the need to pretend that we are better than the person next to us simply because we do not suffer from the same particular weakness as they do or as Paul says, “his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor,” it is easy to feel superior when we compare ourselves to others instead of to Christ who is perfect.

Verse 7 warns us of the danger of expecting to see immediate results good or bad from our actions. We may wrongly believe that since we are not punished right away for our bad actions that we somehow have gotten away with them. But God is not mocked the things we say and do today will grow up into the rewards we will receive in our future.

This is where the encouragement of verses 9 and 10 comes from. We are to work for the good of our future and continue tending the garden of our lives like good farmers. Who work all season long knowing that the harvest is coming. That harvest depends on God’s blessing and Paul says that God will bless according to the type of seeds the farmer plants and how much work the farmer puts in during the growth season. We cannot expect to reap good things if we are planting bad seeds. But we can expect God’s blessings if we keep working for the good of others and the glory of the Lord.
Which is why he exclaims our mission for today,

LET US DO GOOD TO EVERYONE, AND ESPECIALLY TO THOSE OF THE HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH!
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There is much work to be done let’s go plant those seeds today that we will reap tomorrow.