Pandemic Perspective – Part 133 Born to Bless – Part 3

Galatians 6:7-10

7 “Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith”.

Investing our lives not only involves sowing, serving and being steadfast but we also have to stop being:

• SHORT SIGHTED 

Scripture reminds us that we will reap in a different season than we sown. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven” When we look at life through the short lens of instant gratification we often end up grumpy and dissatisfied. Living out the call of Galatians 6 is a challenge in a culture that demands immediate results. In our fast food culture it’s easy to forget to be future focused. The problem is that we see waiting as a waste, but waiting develops our dependence on God, and reinforces our relationship. It causes us to not only turn to Him in trust but once turned to keep trusting. Seeking to serve and do good in the discouraging and dry times of life is really a step of faith, and without faith we will never see the fruit. Are you going to forge ahead in faith or fall behind in fear? The problem is our current culture tells us that it’s ok to focus on self, as a result we want it our way and we want it now. We are not willing to plant the seeds and lend a helping hand until we see the harvest. How do we live a grace based grateful life during the hard times, by focusing on the harvest and what God will do, not on where we are at. Hope will help you clear the hurdles and handle the hurts along the way with wisdom and grace. Hope will keep your heart looking ahead not lagging behind. So let me ask you are you focusing on the harvest or the hard work? Are you going to get hung up on the here and now or forge ahead in faith? Are you going to serve and sowing good works wherever you go or be selfish? Short sighted living always short-circuits serving because it causes us to stop investing. Instead of helping out we hold back, instead of selflessly serving we become stingy with our time, talents, and treasures. When we lose sight of the harvest we are more prone to flake out and stop praying than to faithfully petition God the Father over the harvest. When we take our eyes off of God we lose sight of the goal, doing good, we get distracted and drawn away. We grow impatient for the harvest and irritable with people. Instead of aiding others we get angry with them, we see others as an interruption and an inconvenience, instead of seeing service as a prized privilege we view it as a pain.  Are you sowing and serving with a steadfast spirit or a short sighted one?